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MARCH 25
THE HOLY VIRGIN’S “FIAT”
“And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be unto me
according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.” (Lk 1:38)
One often hears about the “obedience” of the Mother of God, expressed in
this famous reply to the Archangel Gabriel, at the Annunciation.
So let me reflect on the “obedience” of the All-Holy Virgin. Was it a
denial of Her human “will,” as we sometimes understand “obedience”?
No, it wasn’t. Here what we see is Her decision, made freely, and after
asking for certain clarifications from the angel, to accept Her role in an
extraordinary plan that was God’s will. The angel came to receive Her
agreement, and only departed after Her “Let it be.” It is thus that the
new creation begins, “the “beginning of our salvation,” (as it says in the
Troparion or hymn of the Annunciation) – with the creative, affirmative
human word of the All-Holy Virgin. It has remarkably been compared to
the Creator’s “Let there be…” at the initial creation of the world.
It is important for me to understand the “obedience” to which I am called
today, obedience to God’s will, in this light of Her obedience. It doesn’t
mean switching off my will or my brain. It is rather an exercise of my
will, of my willingness, and my creative energies, to embrace and follow
His voice in all the situations I am met with today. “Let it be unto me
according to Your word.”
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