Most years, the church celebrates the solemnity of the Annunciation – the feast commemorating Mary’s ‘yes!’ – on March 25. This year, because that date fell during Holy Week – the celebration was moved to today, April 8.
And isn’t it perfect that it falls on a Monday.
Did you detect a note of sarcasm in that comment? Believe me, it’s there – even though it’s hard to convey typographically.
That’s because Mondays typically aren’t ‘yes!’ days for me. I’m gearing up for the work week: Looking ahead to my scheduled meetings, conference calls, deadlines. Figuring out what needs to get done…and what, perhaps, can be put off for another day.
Which got me wondering: What might have been on Mary’s plate, the day the angel Gabriel showed up to rock her world?
We celebrate the Annunciation as a feast today. Still, I’m guessing that that first encounter with God’s messenger was anything but a cause for celebration in Mary’s mind and heart. Her agenda, her priorities, her to-do list…all suddenly had to be set aside.
Or more accurately: They didn’t have to be set aside. Mary agreed to set them aside. She said ‘yes!’…and so, became pregnant with the Savior of the world. The Lord of the Cosmos came to dwell in her, and among us.
I don’t know how you begin to wrap your mind around that kind of mystery. I do know that I am grateful for Mary’s ‘yes!’ – spoken as it was with at least some fear and trembling on her part.
And as I begin my work week, I ask Mary to plead with her son…to send that same sort of grace into my life: The willingness to say ‘yes!’…even on a Monday, when I’ve got lots of other things on my personal agenda. Even when I can’t be sure precisely where my words of assent will lead.
With Us Still 
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