"THE HOLY SPIRIT WILL COME UPON YOU"

Homily for December 20^th, 2013: Luke 1:26-36.  

          Mary “was greatly troubled” we have just heard in the gospel. Though Bible scholars think she was only twelve years old, not an usual age for girls to marry in Bible times, she sensed at once that the being who confronted her was no ordinary human being. To reassure her, the angel speaks words that Mary’s son will say often three decades later: “Do not be afraid.” It was these words which led Pope Francis to say, in a recent sermon about the sacrament of penance: “Confessing our sins is not going to a psychiatrist or to a torture chamber: It’s saying to the Lord, ‘Lord, I am a sinner,’ but saying it through the brother [a priest], because this says it concretely. ‘I am sinner because of this, that and the other thing.’”

          Mary’s mind is further troubled when she hears from the angel that she is to have a Son. “How can this be?” she asks. Though she has already agreed to marry Joseph, their marriage is still in the future. What then did she understand about the angel’s message?

          Well, she understood at least this: that in a little village where gossip was rife and everyone knew everyone else’s business, she was to be an unmarried mother. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,” the angel tells her. The words recall what we read about the boy David being anointed by the prophet Samuel to be king over Israel, when David was probably no older than Mary. “From that day on,” the Bible says, “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David” (1 Sam. 16:38).

          The power of God’s Spirit, “overshadowing her,” in the angel’s words, enables Mary without hesitation to say yes to the disturbing news that she has just heard. Without asking for any further clarification, she responds simply: “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” With those words Mary put herself without reserve at the disposal of God himself.

          We pray in this Mass that the overshadowing of God's Holy Spirit will enable us to say our yes to God, in good times, but also in bad, when the way ahead looks difficult, dark, lonely -- yes, even impossible.