Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” This is the last sentence of the gospel reading today, but it is still a very good place to begin to think about Mary’s life and the angel Gabriel’s visit to see her. God did not choose Mary to be the mother of His son on the spur of the moment. He knew all about Mary, about her faith, her attitudes, personality, upbringing and way of life. God knew Mary so well, that He knew she would say “yes” to be the mother of His son. Mary had loved God her entire life and He already knew she would sacrifice her life to serve Him and to love His son. Her entire life was one of service to Him.
If God were to ask something of you, would you be prepared to say “yes” as well? What if God asked you to do something for Him that other people might not understand, and might even question your motives or believe your actions were sinful? Would you be ok with allowing others to misinterpret your actions?
Mary was ok with saying yes to God, because she trusted Him. God wanted her to do something and although she couldn’t see “how this could be”, she trusted that God would make happen what he said he would. It didn’t matter how things appeared to others, or even herself at the moment. Mary simply trusted that God would provide the means to accomplish His will. She had complete trust in Him and sure enough, God worked out all of the problems that cropped up and provided the means to take care of His son.
We can’t see our way through the clutter of our lives sometimes, but Mary didn’t even think like this. She never even tried to figure out everything ahead of time. She simply obeyed God and trusted the rest would fall into place, and it did. Mary had absolutely no need to be in control of things because she had confidence that God knew better than her, what the future would bring and how to handle the problems that would inevitably crop up.
There is so much to study and understand about today’s gospel reading. Mankind has analyzed these passages in the bible for over 2,000 years from every conceivable perspective. But, today, the one perspective that would be good for all of us to think about is Mary’s complete trust in God. She completely, absolutely, without question, trusted God with her entire life. Mary didn’t fret over this detail, or that detail, or how things would turn out or try to control the outcome. She simply trusted God that things would turn out according to His will and it did.
What we might be able to learn from Mary today, is to realize that we are not the one in control of our lives. God is. We can’t control other people’s lives either, because they also belong to God. Mary had such a beautiful freedom of spirit, a spirit of obedience and of service, and complete trust in God. She is the most perfect of all women, and we are far from being perfect people. However, Mary guides us and teaches us how to grow closer to God and to her son, simply by how she lived her life.
Today, let us imitate Mary’s grace filled life, by trusting God completely with our own lives. What freedom of spirit Mary had, to turn her entire life over to God and trust Him to do with it as He saw fit.
