A Reflection for Friday of the Third Week of Advent
Find today’s readings here.
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by 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.” (Lk 1: 26-27)
“...and the virgin’s name was Mary.”
I cannot exactly say why these six words always get me. Something about the understatement of it. Something about the quiet. The end-of-sentence of it. The shy importance of it. There was a virgin and the virgin’s name was Mary and there is more to come from her.
The film’s opening scene: A 19th-century marketplace. Brisk violin music, credits rolling, a flute rises. Villagers in gray scarves and interesting headwear bustling among the stalls, merchants shouting out their wares, steam rising from pots, purple tapestries hanging on pins and rippling in the wind. And out from a dim alleyway into frame steps…the hero. And the hero’s name was Mary.
Just another girl in the market square but not really. Because she shows up at the end of the opening credits and because of the faint ray of light in her eyes you know she is the center of the story and that you will like her. From here on it is her game.
“...and the virgin’s name was Mary.” A pedestrian phrase. All the more glorious by its lack of glory. All the more adorned for its lack of adornment. Queen of Heaven! Untier of Knots! Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Our Lady of Guadalupe. Of Knock. Of Kibeho. Of Everything. No, not here. In this context such words would merely get in the way. …the virgin’s name was Mary is enough.
The entire opening passage, in fact, always gets me. The Joe Friday meets James Joyce flowing stream of poetic alliteration of it gets me: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by 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.
The moment that it all started. The journey of our salvation ramps up into high gear. The angel came down and said this is what is going to happen, you will cradle the savior of all humankind, and Mary said yes, let it happen, I will cradle the savior of all humankind. The perfectly impossible arrangement–Gabriel said it will happen but it happened only because Mary allowed it to happen. It makes no sense and makes all kinds of sense. But exploration into the mysteries of the human/divine volitional matrix is beyond the scope of this paper etc. The point of this reflection is that, when it comes to the earth-shattering scripture passage called “The Annunciation,” I like the words and the way they are. In the sixth month…name was Mary. It is just enough to hear a superb sentence unfurl. Not much more needs to be said.
But it is an added pleasure when that sentence leads to something that startles the life out of you, uncorrupts the world for you, salts all of reality with a hope beyond anything you could ever imagine.
