The Angel's explanation does not prevent many future events and circumstances from remaining hidden and obscure to Mary. She finds herself fact to face with a mystery, a mystery which she knows intuitively to be rich in suffering; for she has learned from Sacred Scripture that the Redeemer will be a man of sorrows, sacrificed for the salvation of mankind. Therefore the ineffable joy of the divine maternity is presented to her wrapped in a mystery of sorrow: to be willing to be the Mother of the Son of God means consenting to be the mother of
one condemned to death. Yet Mary accepts everything in her "fiat" - in joy as well as in the sorrow of the mystery she has but one simple answer: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." By this acceptance the
Blessed Virgin becomes intimately associated with the life of suffering of her Son Jesus, and therefore with His work of Redemption, thus becoming the spiritual Mother of the human race. This is the divine plan
for her, and Mary accepts it wholly without reserve, precisely because her will is wholly united to the will of God.
Every Christian receives a vocation from God, a mission to fulfill, by means of which he is called to participate in the redemptive work of Jesus. For souls consecrated to God, this mission always finds its culminating point in a task of spiritual paternity or maternity. If ever souls would respond to the divine appeal by as complete an acceptance as Mary's! Behold, the handmaid of the Lord, Be it done!
Many times in the course of our life we have received invitations from the Lord - and we shall certainly continue to receive them - invitations to suffering, to sacrifice - to the gift of self. How have we corresponded? Perhaps the thought of the fatigue and suffering which we would have to embrace has held us back. Let us try in the future to keep the eyes of our soul open to the light of faith, so that, like Mary, we shall understand that it is through suffering that God calls us to collaborate with Jesus in the sanctification of souls.
©2009 Fr. Louis Schlangen