"Mary's, 'How can this be?' is a simpler response than Zechariah's, and also more profound. She does not lose her voice but finds it. Like any of the prophets, she asserts herself before God saying, 'Here am I.' There is no arrogance, however, but only holy fear and wonder. Mary proceeds--as we must do in life--making her commitment without knowing much about what it will entail or where it will lead. I treasure the story because it forces me to ask: When the mystery of God's love breaks through into my consciousness, do I run from it? Do I ask of it what it cannot answer? Shrugging, do I retreat into facile clichés, the popular but false wisdom of what 'what we all know'? Or am I virgin enough to respond from my deepest, truest self, and say something new, a 'yes' that will change me forever?"
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Here am I
"Mary's, 'How can this be?' is a simpler response than Zechariah's, and also more profound. She does not lose her voice but finds it. Like any of the prophets, she asserts herself before God saying, 'Here am I.' There is no arrogance, however, but only holy fear and wonder. Mary proceeds--as we must do in life--making her commitment without knowing much about what it will entail or where it will lead. I treasure the story because it forces me to ask: When the mystery of God's love breaks through into my consciousness, do I run from it? Do I ask of it what it cannot answer? Shrugging, do I retreat into facile clichés, the popular but false wisdom of what 'what we all know'? Or am I virgin enough to respond from my deepest, truest self, and say something new, a 'yes' that will change me forever?"
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