In the sixth month, Gabriel the angel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man called Joseph, from the family of David. The virgin was called Mary. ‘Greetings, favoured one!’ said the angel when he arrived. ‘May the Lord be with you!’ - Luke 1:26-28

He did not wait till the world was ready,
till men and nations were at peace.
He came when the Heavens were unsteady,
and prisoners cried out for release. - First coming, Madeleine L’Engle

On readiness, preparedness

I don’t know ready Mary was for this visit. Often it seems that anxiety erupts when we are caught unawares. I can feel exposed due to a surprise or change. I can’t quite marshall my defence, my resources, quickly enough or at all. Maybe there is help here for us…

‘Just to be is a blessing. Just to live is holy’, writes Abraham Joshua Heschel. The Trappist monk and activist Thomas Merton added ‘It is enough to be, in an ordinary human mode, with one’s hunger and sleep, one’s cold and warmth, rising and going to bed.’

Do I feel I am enough, as I am, or that I have to do or be something more?

The tender scene between Mary and the angel is a vital expression of how God’s action works with us, not against us; not over-ruling us but enabling us to be who we are. Henry Ossawa Tanner shows us Mary as troubled and uncertain but looking directly into the angelic light; there is a real dialogue of respect going on here. - The art of advent, Jane Williams

To what extent have I appreciated the mutuality that is offered and sought? What impact does that have on me – any changes, surprises, any shifting in your relational dynamics with God? There is respect and there is consent. There is distance and there is intimacy. I wonder to what extent I feel I am a ‘free agent’ and that my personality matters when it comes to relating to God?