This theme which is proposed really calls upon us about how we live our daily life, how we consider life with its events and its difficulties.
We will look at Mary to see how she has lived her daily life and how with her we are called to live well our reality.
Mary has always put her trust in God. She lived in a world where there were many troubles (domination of the Romans, violence, injustice, etc.) She never ceased to believe that God would intervene on behalf of the little ones, the unloved, the poor. She was waiting, and she counted on the promise of God: He who is faithful would send a Saviour.
She was part of the anawims (modest ones who, in their poverty, were waiting with confidence for God’s intervention).In her relationship to God, she had no doubt realized that God loves his people and that he will come, he will intervene to liberate his people. Her faith was so great, her trust absolute, that she remained in peace, confident, waiting at the time of God.
The Angel’s Word to Mary, who calls her as one who is full of grace and tells her that she was God’s chosen to bring the Son of God, the Saviour, to the world. She simply asks how it can be done, she who is a virgin. She simply relies on God in absolute confidence.
This annunciation to Mary that we find in the Gospel tells us very clearly that Mary’s attitude should be, for us, the fundamental attitude with which we must face life. Like Mary, our relationship with God must be made of trust and abandonment. With her, we can experience in our daily life this love that accompanies us day by day.
With Mary, let us open ourselves to this Presence of God who is always active in the heart of our world. With her, we can enter into thanksgiving because God is faithful, and his presence is always active in all the moments of our life. She opens us to God, to discover his presence and action in our daily lives and to trust the Spirit that lives in us. With her, let us respond to our call to contribute with all our lives to our participation in God’s plan: “Let it be according to your word,” she says. Mary’s attitude must become ours too. We cannot do it alone. We need Mary, the grace of God and her Spirit.
We live in a world that in many ways has lost its way of life. The news tells us about disasters of all kinds, violence. We are often insecure: what will the future be? What will happen to us? How to live in peace before what life brings us? How to keep peace and trust? How can we engage in this world, with our gifts and our love, in the heart of new realities without our fears paralyzing us, without our negative judgments, but in the faith of Mary?
Gerald Michaud, V.Dei
