26 The angel Gabriel was sent from God to
a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name
was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he
came to her and said, "Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what
sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, "Do not
be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will
conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He
will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God
will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the
house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34 And Mary said to the angel, "How
shall this be, since I have no husband?" 35 And the angel said to her,
"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. 36 And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived
a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For with
God nothing will be impossible."38 And Mary said, "Behold, I am the
handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the
angel departed from her.
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Reflection:
Why is the Blessed Mother favored by God?
Why was she chosen amongst many women? She was favored because of her humility
and docility. She was favored because
God saw her saintly character which He did not found from any women during that
time. Therefore the Blessed Mother was given the singular honor to carry in her
womb our savior.
So you might say I would also want to be
humble because I also expect to receive some blessings from God. That’s ok
nothing is wrong with this kind of mindset. However, we must remember that the
Blessed Mother is humble and docile not because she was vying to be chosen as
the dwelling place of the son of God.
To be humble and docile was her natural
character. There was no pretension or any sort of fake humility in her
system. In other words as far as the
Blessed Mother is concerned, what we see is what we get from her. If we see her
as humble and docile to the will of God she really is humble and docile.
In so many ways, God also announces His
will for us and what is His will for us? It’s for us to live simple and humble
lives. Many of us live complicated lifestyle instead of a simple lifestyle and
many of us are so full of egotism in our system. What is the result of this
kind of lifestyle and behavior we fail to hear the voice of God and we fail to
hear the guidance of God us well.
The Blessed Mother lived a simple and
humble lifestyle thus she heard and humbly obeyed the voice of God. How are you
living your life? – Marino J. Dasmarinas