Gabriel was bringing to Mary the most precious bit of news ever
delivered into our world. A new dawn was approaching. The long-sought
Messiah was to be conceived, indeed, a far greater Messiah:
God-with-us.
But the messenger who speaks to Mary brings tidings not only of joy but
also of pain. Without hesitation Mary responds “yes” to the Messenger.
Her words of acceptance echo the words the Letter to the Hebrews puts
on the lips of her son when he enters our world: “I have come to do
your will, O God,” and they echo also the words her son will speak in
Gethsemane: “Not my will, but yours be done.” Mary says, “I am the
maidservant of the Lord, let it be done to me as you say.”
Good news never comes to us in unalloyed form, untainted, that is,
unaccompanied by pain. The pain however is but the Gospel’s challenge
to all to whom it is addressed, to respond, “Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven.”
