Imagine Mary Saying "Yes" to God | A Virtual Pilgrimage of Incarnation Reflections - Week 1

For Friday of the 1st Week of Advent Lauren Hackman-Brooks guides us in an imaginative prayer watching with God as Mary says "Yes" to the the Angel Gabriel.

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Transcript

I’m walking the streets of another city — this time, Jerusalem. I am here as a pilgrim. Our group carries a large cross. We sing and we pray. We stop along the Via Dolorosa for each of the Stations of the Cross. It is raining. Children are walking to school. Some shopkeepers rearrange their wares, while others sit in the narrow passageway sipping coffee, smoking cigarettes, and playing backgammon.

It is not a holiday or a holy day. It’s not even Friday. It is a regular day, and we are one group of so many who have passed by — day after day, year after year — carrying crosses, singing, and praying.

Was it a regular day for most folks in Jerusalem the day that Jesus carried his cross? Was it a regular day for most folks when Gabriel appeared to Mary? Presumably it was a regular day for Mary — up until that moment.

Yesterday we joined the Trinity, looking upon the earth with love in the moments just before the Incarnation. We looked with God toward Nazareth, which is where we resume our prayer today.

We pause for a moment of quiet as we begin.

Come, Holy Spirit.

I ask for the grace I desire before the mystery of God becoming human.

With God, our gaze moves in from the wide, wide vision to focus on Mary of Nazareth — a little nowhere town of about 200 in that time.

We take in her surroundings: the landscape, the buildings, the happenings of the people of that town, and the specific place she calls home. We see this young woman. We note her features and observe what she is doing on this, so far, regular day.

With God, I watch Gabriel arrive. Together we see Mary’s posture, her facial expressions. We listen as the two converse in a language known to Mary. We notice cadence and tone of voice, the questions and responses, what is said and what is unsaid.

With God, I wait for Mary’s response.

I notice how our God works simply, quietly, without much fanfare — save for a messenger. The world goes on. It is a regular day.

I listen to Mary’s yes. That yes changes everything. It changes everything for her, for me, for our world.

I take in Mary’s radical availability to respond to God’s action in her life. I watch with Creator, Christ, and Spirit as the angel leaves Mary.

With God, I observe what she does next.

Amen.