Saying "Yes"

The Catholic school where I teach imposes a variety of interesting "disciplines" on my life. One of those is that we take our children to worship once every week. So it is that this "heathen" gets dragged off to church on a regular basis.

I am more and more clear that I'm not a believer in the mythology that gets peddled there. I am however, enough enough inclined to the Jungian view of things to be fascinated by the cycle of stories that get told throughout the liturgical year. This time of the year, of course, we are immersed in the stories that surround the traditional Christmas tale.

Today, the gospel was from Luke (1:26-38) --

The angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,

of the house of David,and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was greatly troubled at what was said

and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her,“Do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favor with God.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

and you shall name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,

and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,

and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,

and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel,“How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?”

And the angel said to her in reply,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,

has also conceived a son in her old age,

and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;

for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

Yeah. Right. Does anyone actually think this scene would have gone down just like that? Really?

Because I've got to tell you -- if someday (or anyday) an angel popped into my line of vision and announced that I was (without benefit of even a little roll in the hay), now with child and about to bring "THE SON OF GOD" into the world as a squalling baby, I think I'd have a couple questions -- at least a couple. I think I might be scared out of my wits. I think I might just get all the way to mad as hell. I'm thinking that no one in their right mind would just sort of smile sweetly and say, "are you sure you have the right girl, Mr. Angel?"

But then, this morning, sitting in church, surrounded by my students, listening to this, I was struck by that "full of grace" line. What would it mean to be greeted by an angel, as "full of grace?" What is that exactly? I tend to view the "Mary" story as just that, and I'm inclined to believe that as an archetype, she has something to teach me. Because I do believe that Mary is, in her tough and gritty nature, in her willingness to be in her life, in her willingness to risk for something barely imagined, a fair approximation of all of us who step off into the unknown of our lives without any assurance at all about how it will all end up...

Grace. The sure knowledge, somewhere deep in our beings, that we are fine exactly as we are -- that being our truest selves is sufficient, enough. It was that "grace" that gives the girl/woman of the gospel the fortitude to say, "Yes" to her life. It is that same grace that takes me into the fullness of my life when I am sure of it in myself. When there is that sense of internal fullness of grace, I too, say "Yes," and go forward with calmness and serenity.

Perhaps it is the greeting we ought to all use with one another -- "Hail, full of grace!"

swan