Accepting the Challenge

Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

Mary is invited by the angel to bring forth Jesus into the world.  This invitation comes with a great deal of personal risks for Mary.  No one is going to understand or believe her story about how she became pregnant.  She is likely to lose her engagement to Joseph.  As an unwed mother she could face stoning by the strict letter of the law, or more likely face a life of poverty and marginalization with her child.  And yet, Mary accepts this calling because somebody has to do it.

Someone has to bring Christ into the world, and this invitation to Mary is an invitation to us as well.  Each one of us is invited to bear Christ and to bring him forth in the world.  Like Mary, this invitation comes with risks of misunderstanding and marginalization and possible risk to our very lives.  But someone has to bring forth goodness and light, love and compassion, care and service to others in a world of division fueled by self-interest.  

Mary and Joseph lived in silent contemplation of the mystery that enfolded their lives.  They embodied loving service to one another and to others - Mary's first action was to care for her cousin Elizabeth.  These are our model as we take up the invitation to bring forth Christ in the world: silent reverence for the mystery, and loving service to others.