The woman that gave everything she had.
On the thirty-fourth week of ordinary time, Monday, November 21st is the "Presentation of the Virgin Mary". As a Protestant, I casually glanced over this story. The greatest moment of the presentation was the announcement of the messiah itself. God coming in the flesh. The Father sent the Son into the World to save it. Wasn't it? Wait, what about Mary? If everything in the Word writes a love story of man's redemption from the fall, shouldn't there be glory in the decision of redemption? If man fell because he disobeyed God of his own free will, what would happen if man obeyed God? If God, the Father sent the Son into the world to save it, how important is the decision to receive Him?
The New Eve
The central focus of the fall is the failure of Adam and Eve, not the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What if the central focus of redemption of man to receive the fruit from the tree of life (the cross) is the triumph of surrender at the annunciation? Eve received the fruit and gave it to Adam. A fallen angel gives temptation to Eve first and she gives the fruit to Adam. Adam was present with Eve. The woman takes the fruit from the tree in disobedience. Eve takes the fruit from her own desire for more.
"The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it." Gen 3:6
What was given to her by God was not enough. She didn't trust God.
An angel appears to Mary. The fruit of her womb, Jesus, is given to her by the Father but not before she submits to His will. She does not take. She receives it out of humility. She surrenders everything to the Father. She gives God complete trust. No other creation of God has received more favor than Mary.
Hail. This is a greeting word that has been used to describe many expressions. The definition of hail is to "call out for someone's attention." It can also be to "acclaim enthusiastically", primarily when used in a sentence that ends with an exclamation point.
Some interpretations of the text replace the word "Hail" with "Rejoice" which would still fit the moment and help provide more light into this text.
The second part of the statement, "favored one" is in the past tense. This means the favor was already with the listener. They didn't attain favor from this moment but had favor before this moment.
What is favor?
The definition of favor is "approval, support, or liking for someone or something". The angel Gabriel as a messenger of God's own voice says to Mary, that she is "favored". I have always shared what might have been Mary's reaction to this moment with Gabriel. She must have been fearful, excited, and amazed at what was happening. Another new perspective that I have now considered is Gabriel's perspective. How humbled and joyous he must have been to be in this moment with Mary. Here he was with the ark of the messiah. God humbles Himself to become flesh and Gabriel is here to mark that moment. Amazing.
In 1984, a Dominican priest named Father William Bonniwell wrote this about the moment between Gabriel and Mary,
"She received a plenitude of grace such as was never bestowed on any other creature... when the archangel Gabriel entered her presence and beheld the dazzling vision of spiritual beauty, he was moved to cry aloud: Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee!"
The scripture is punctuated with an exclamation mark. He continues to write,
"She knew from the prophecy of Isaiah that the Messiah would bear our infirmities and carry our sorrows; that he would be as it were a leper struck by God; that he would be wounded for our iniquities and by his bruises we would be healed; and he would lay down his life for sin... so measureless was Mary's love of God and of her fellow man that her decision was instantly made. With the profoundest humility, she replied: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word."
What if Eve had responded in this way to the temptation of the serpent? What if Eve would have humbly declared, "No. I am a handmaid of the Lord.", if she had simply trusted God to provide all that she needed?
As Jesus was the second and final Adam, so Mary was the new Eve. How could I not see how perfect a plan God had constructed for our redemption?
The Gospel reading from the day is Luke 21:1-4:
"When Jesus looked up he saw some wealthy people putting their offerings into the treasury and he noticed a poor widow putting in two small coins. He said, "I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood."
What an interesting passage of scripture on a day that reflects on the presentation of the blessed virgin Mary. The woman in the story is a poor widow. Mary was also widowed and without wealth. It is likely that Jesus would have seen his own mother in this woman. The woman had put in more than the rest. The woman that gave of her own poverty, and offered her whole livelihood.
Another Dominican priest by the name of Father Elwood Ferrer Smith wrote,
"The Church puts into the mouth of Mary the words of the prophet: The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways. I was set up from eternity and of old before the earth was made. I was with him forming all things and was delighted every day, before him at all times. (Prov 8:22-30) So could Saint Bernard cry out: "She was not chosen merely at the hour of Incarnation. She was predestined from all time by the Most High and was prepared by Him to be one day his Mother."
It all crescendos to that pivotal and monumentous moment in time where an angel spoke to the woman, and she responded: “Yes.”
Mary, the blessed Mother of Jesus, gave everything she had for God's creation. God speaks over all of His creation in the Psalms:
Psalms 139:13-18
You formed my inmost being;
you knit me in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, because I am wonderfully made;
wonderful are your works!
My very self you know.
My bones are not hidden from you,
When I was being made in secret,
fashioned in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw me unformed;
in your book all are written down;
my days were shaped, before one came to be.
The woman was chosen before the beginning of time. She was predestined from all time to be the Mother of our Lord. Eve was created in a state of Grace (without sin), whereas Eve failed as the Mother of all living, we find Mary created in a state of Grace to become the Mother of all living in Christ. We are all drowning in sin. Jesus saves us by pulling us out of the pool. Mary was saved by Jesus when he kept her from falling into the pool.
Many of the early Church Fathers liked to say that mary is like the moon; she has no light herself, but she radiantly reflects the light of the sun. Mary’s glory is always a participation in that of her son. It does not compete with Jesus, it never takes away from Jesus. She only serves to show his power. Eve participates in the downfall of Adam, while Mary participates in the victory of her Son, the new Adam.
In the divine wedding proposal between Christ and his Church, between God and man, Mary’s, “Yes” became humanity’s answer to our redemption.
Her final words in scripture.
