Annunciation

Luke 1:26-38

     The angel didn't frighten her. Her prayer had always been contemplative. Spiritual realities were quite real to her, so when he appeared she bowed in reverence. She knew his name was Gabriel, the same angel that had once visited Daniel. She didn't know how she knew. The name was simply impressed on her mind.

     His unspoken greeting gave her concern, because it was more than a greeting. It was as if he desired to humble himself before her. She returned his greeting eyes downcast as he continued. The words, “You will conceive and bear a son,” flooded her soul with confusion. The message of future motherhood encompassed a prophetic vision. She looked up to search the angel’s countenance. Seeking to understand, her mind formed a question about her virginity.

       Gabriel responded before words could escape her lips. Even as the clarification impressed itself on her soul, her giving nature caused her to answer, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. “

Before her response formed on her lips, the angel informed, “Your cousin Elizabeth is in her sixth month.”

     News that her elderly cousin was with child brought a tear to her eye. If old Elizabeth could conceive, she trusted that her own virginity would remain inviolate. In answer to the angel Mary opened her arms and dropped them to her side, palms open. “Be it done to me according to your word.”