So many times we pray these words in the Angelus-prayer as a devotion to God (3-In-One). This is such a meaningfull sentence in the Scriptures. It is first spoken by Mary, mother of Jesus Christ (God-Man), as a 'fiat' to God. God, who sent His messenger the Angel Gabriel to Mary, very much longed for Mary to bare His Child.
At first I didn't think about it very much. It was 'just' a sentence in another prayer. I didn't realise that many Catholics all over the world pray it and many, many other Catholics already have been praying those very words during the past five or so centuries.
But somehow there came a moment in my life that I began to understand a little of the huge impact of those words. The impact on the life of Mary. And Joseph's!. The impact on all the people who knew them - I'm thinking of Elisabeth and her husband, of Anna and Joachim, of the neighbors of Mary ... the impact on me. By saying 'yes, it is alright, cause what you're saying are the words of One Allmighty', Mary became a great example of the Love of God. It makes me realise very much that God IS Love. And that Love (real love) is never enforced to another being. Loving is respecting the other completely and encounter the other one at his own level, like a parent encounters his 4-year old kneeling or bowing to encounter the kid at his own level. In fact, that is exactly what God did: He encountered Mary at 'her' level by sending Gabriel and He even asks her permission (!!!). Only at her 'Yes', at her 'fiat', Mary - who was full of grace - became instantly pregnant with Jesus. It shows that love fully embraces respect AND that love goes way beyond the 'respect' we usual take for granted and we usual give to one other.
This sentence also shows the creating power of Gods words. As it was in the beginning the words of God ('let there be light') - being received by lightlessness - created light and more. Now Gods words spoken by the angel and in fulness being received by Mary, created the God-Man in her womb. Thats pritty creative, istn't it? :-D
And as if this is not enough yet, these humble words are an enormous statement of the faith, the trust, the willingness, the joy, the thankfullness, the humility of Mary towards YHWH. Also in that Mary is a great example to all mono-theistic-believers nowadays: Jews, Christians ánd the people of the Islam. We - especially us christians - may take mother Mary as our example of how we should receive God in our lives: freely, open minded and open hearted, longing for Him as a Father, a Comforter, a King, a Teacher, a Friend, a Brother, a Master, ... and as a Lover. However strange that may seem: God being our Lover, we know from His very own Word that we are His bride. This means we are meant to be HIS beloved-ones, as His Children, His Disciples, His Friends, His Brothers and Sisters ... AND His Bride :-D
Mary was the one who (thanks to her being full of grace) smoothed the pathway for God to encounter us at our own level. She - being without sin and thus receiving Jesus - mediatored for us.
In a way her 'yes' made her the first Messianic Jew / Christian who interceeded between men and God. Exactly that fact combined with the fact that Jesus gave the (beloved) disciple and His mother Mary as a son and a mother to one other make that when I pray as an intercessor I ask my mother Mary to join in my prayers. I step into her intercessory prayer and I ask her to step into mine. Being also His beloved disciple, mother Mary is also my mother and your mother. And She remains your mother, wether you choose to believe that or not :-D
DLG
0 reacties:
Een reactie plaatsen