THE ANNUNCIATION LUKE 1:36-45
In the sixth month, 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 on 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 the 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 will 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 is impossible for God.” Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
God has created each of us in His image and likeness with an intellect, a body, and a soul. He has also given us the most powerful gift called FREE WILL. And as we know from Uncle Ben, Peter Parker’s father figure, “Great power comes with great responsibility.” Our capacity to choose is our great power.
I have found in my own life, and the lives of my clients, that there are many times we are not aware of exactly what we are choosing and therefore, we are choosing NO. What do I mean by choosing NO?
The first way we choose NO is by accepting what others, or by what society tells us.
Here are a few ideas which we may have accepted:
Get good grades, go to college and get a good job.
Establish your profession before you begin having children
Women must compete with men
Becoming a nun is wasting the education and talents of a woman.
In order to be a responsible adult, I must be on contraception
Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Her idea was to simply be a wife and mother, serving the Lord in a little way. The angel Gabriel came to tell her that God had a more complete plan for Her. She was full of grace. I always giggle a little bit when I read this Scripture passage, “She was greatly troubled and pondered what sort of greeting this was.” She wasn’t greatly troubled that the angel Gabriel was talking to her. No, she was pondering God's view of Her. Full of Grace was the reflection She was being shown. This is Her true name, Her true beauty.
And because of this name, She is also called Highly Favored. The gift She was being offered was to be the Mother of the Son of the Most High. She really couldn’t see the plan. How will this be? She didn’t understand. When Gabriel gave her a little bit of the plan, she accepted. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done unto me according to your word.”
This is Mary’s YES. This is what we call her FIAT. She used her own free will to unite it to the Lord’s Will. She was open.
So my dear sisters, what are your plans right now where you may not be using your own free will? Are you simply going with the flow of studying hard to get good grades, to go to a good college, so that you can get a good job? Are you in that job and holding off starting your family so that you can establish your profession? Are you working hard in that profession, making sure you can stay in the game with the men in your profession? Have you never looked at religious life because you have already worked so hard to have this profession and you don’t want to throw it all away? Have you been on contraception for so long that you don’t even recognize your own body’s signs of health?
Mary’s plan to be a wife and a mother were good plans. Don’t get me wrong, going to school to earn a degree is a good plan. But what if God is calling you to MORE? What if the angel Gabriel came to you and presented a whole other possibility for your life? What if someone told you, your own body is good and beautiful and there’s a better answer than contraception? Would you or could you use your own free will to choose this other path? Would you ponder like Mary, and think, “How will this be?”
I know this can be scary. I know the medical profession rarely supports women to practice Natural Family Planning, or what they call Fertility Awareness. The medical profession has so many other answers: hormonal contraception, tubal ligation, vasectomy, and if the problem is infertility: Intra Vitro Fertilization, Artificial Insemination, and even Surrogate Motherhood.
I want to share with you the beauty, the goodness, the truth about your bodies and its ability to give the signs of fertility and infertility. My desire is to expand your understanding of your own reproductive system as a spiritual tool that you have to draw closer to God. This system that God has designed within you can tell you so much more about yourself than simply when I am having a period.
As someone who has studied personal development for over 20 years, I have known that our thoughts lead to our feelings which then lead to our actions or inactions. But I also understood that simply “thought swapping” doesn’t always work. When I discovered and practiced putting my thoughts through the reason cycle, repenting and renouncing the thoughts that are not true, and bringing God into my thoughts, showing Mindset Coaching. This Metanoia journey has deepened my own prayer life, my relationship with others, and my ability to be aware of my own thoughts and my feelings.
And during my training as a Catholic mindset coach, while still teaching and coaching women on fertility awareness, I made an important observation. Catholic women have lots of thoughts about our cycles, Natural Family Planning, Fertility Awareness, sex, and thoughts about having children.
For many years, my motto has been the last verse of the Litany of Humility:
“That others become holier than I provided I become as holy as I should,
Jesus grant me the grace to desire it.”
I desire that you, my dear sister in Christ may become holy! I pray Our Dear Blessed Mother will teach each of us to say our own “FIAT. LET IT BE DONE UNTO ME ACCORDING TO YOUR WILL.”
May the God who gives us peace make you completely his and keep your whole being, spirit, soul, and body, free from all fault, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen