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Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

This Gospel passage is familiar enough to us.  It is read at every Marian feast day in the Church's liturgy.  In fact, we heard it just a few weeks ago for the feast of the Immaculate Conception.  Apologists pour over this passage again and again in the endless controversies they create in order to retain positions within the cottage industry.  But the Gospels were not written to be proof texts for anything.  They were written so that we might have life through Jesus the Lord, that we ourselves might be disciples of the Lord, following where he leads and imitating what he does.   

In this light, what does this passage mean for us? Imagine for a moment that the angel has announced to you that you are called to bring forth Jesus into the world - not through natural birth - but through your actions of love and mercy extended to others.  Now this passage engages us.  It is no longer about a singular event for one unique individual.  It is now a mission extended to everyone, a call to answer the invitation as Mary did - with total faith and trust in God.

Each page of the Gospels is a reflection for us on how to respond as disciples of the Lord.  Today, Mary is the model disciple, and our task is to reflect on how we might respond to this invitation from the Lord in our own life, how the Lord might be born anew in the world through our acts of loving-kindness and mercy.