And the Spirit will Overshadow

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke:

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel,
“How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word.”
Then the angel departed from her.

Maybe it’s not so complicated as we’ve been told.

Maybe the spiritual life involves a “yes,” and letting the Holy Spirit overshadow you, and then just doing whatever happens next.

If you believe, as I do, that Mary is the perfect Mirror of Justice and Seat of Wisdom, maybe we should do what Mary did.

Maybe, when the angel comes to you, you should ask them what on earth they’re talking about and how what they propose is supposed to happen. And the angel won’t exactly tell you how it will happen, except that the Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and then the fruit you bear will be called Holy. And all of creation will wait upon your answer. And if you are like Mary, you will say “yes.”

And then, of course, you’ll be terrified out of your mind. So you’ll hurry into the hill country to meet to your elder cousin, or you’ll pick up your phone and call your mother, or you’ll run down the hall to talk to your friend. If you have no one to talk to, of course, you can keep talking to the angel who is always listening. You can talk to the Holy Ghost who overshadows you. But hopefully you’ll have a mentor like Cousin Elizabeth.

Hopefully, somebody like Cousin Elizabeth will come running to meet you and greet you like a queen. And you two will discuss the wonderful things the Almighty has done for you, even though you’re scared to death. You will magnify the Lord and exalt in God your Savior together, and then you’ll both feel so much better.

And then you will leave for Bethlehem where everything will fall apart. Your plans will be ruined. The Son of God will be manifest in a cave full of animals on a freezing cold night when you wish you were home in Nazareth, and those angels won’t keep quiet and let you rest.

Maybe things will keep falling apart for a terribly long time. You’ll have to get up in the night and flee for your life with the baby. Next thing you know you’re in a foreign country in hiding from the law, and then, just when you’ve gotten used to that, you’ve got to go back to Nazareth. And then you’ll lose sight of God completely, and search high and low until you find Him– and when you do, He will speak to you, but you won’t understand a word He says.

Maybe you will take Him with you to your friend’s wedding. We all have that one friend who doesn’t plan ahead very well, who needs a Divine intervention.

Maybe you’ll have the opportunity to tell somebody “Do whatever He tells you to do.”

Maybe you’ll follow Jesus, a little concerned for his sanity,  until you hear Him say that the one who hears His word and keeps it is better than the breasts that nursed Him, and that the one who does the will of His Father in Heaven is His mother. And you’ll go on listening to His word and doing the will of His Father, because that’s who you are.

Maybe, one day, as you’ve been following and listening and doing His will, you’ll see Him sold out by His disciple. Just when you thought you couldn’t be more shocked, you’ll see His other disciples scatter, and the Rock on which the Church is built will swear he doesn’t know the Lord.  But, if you are like Mary, you will not run away.

You and the other women, the ones who didn’t run away, will follow Him right out of the Holy City and up to the Place of the Skull. You’ll get hit with the blood spray and the jeering bystanders will roll their eyes at you, if they notice you at all.  They will torture God to death in front of you. There will be nothing at all you can do to stop them. The Lord will ask you to take care of His friend, and His friend will take you into his home. But the agony won’t stop there.

You will see the sky go black and the earth will break open underneath you, and behind you in the temple the veil will be torn in half. And then they’ll cut down the dead, mutilated body of God Himself and give Him to you, and they’ll laugh at your wasted faith and hope as you cry until you can cry no more, but you won’t be able to bring Him back to life.

You will lose Him for awhile.

On the third day, He will come back.

And He will remain with you always, even until the end of the age, and then the Holy Spirit will overshadow you again.

That’s all you have to do, really. Say “Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord.” And follow through with everything that happens next.

If you do this, the Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and the fruit you bear will be called holy.