Beginnings

Beginnings are mysterious because they come from the One who has no beginning or ending. If you look for the beginning of your vocation or the beginning of your romance, maybe you can trace it back to a specific event like the sock hop of 1956. Most life-shaping beginnings are built upon lineage. That's why a few days ago we had the genealogy of Mary and Joseph to show us that Jesus in the flesh had a lineage, but as the Son of God he had no beginning in his begottenness. Our Gospel text today is itself a beginning, the beginning of Mary's life as the Mother of God. She was blessed by the One who has no Mother with grace that kept her free from the taint of our nature and yet she was of our nature and still is of our nature. In Mary our nature is dignified by God's gift.
There is always a little pause before beginning. When confronted with the message of the angel, she ponders briefly the meaning of the message. She asks the question How can this be with reverence and faith, unlike Zechariah whose questioning of Gabriel meant skepticism and doubt. Zechariah did not seem to pause and reflect. St. Bernard of Clairvaux has a wonderful reflection on this pause of Mary. He says dont't wait too long because Adam amd Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, David and all the great kings are waiting for your answer, the answer that will spring them from the depths of Sheol, the answer that was predicted by Isaiah. Mary gives the answer freely and without reserve: Be it done unto me according to your word. It has begun, that plan of God formed long ago. It has begun.
We must learn from this beginning: to love our lineage of love, to thank God for all our graces precisely because they are grace; to have that reflective habit of Mary when she pondered all these things in her heart; to carry the Word as Mary carried the Word, close to her heart, close to our heart.