As we head into week three of Advent, the week of joyful anticipation, let’s turn our focus on Mary and her gift of acceptance.

The second week of Advent held two great feasts for Mary: the Immaculate Conception and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mary does hold a dear place in the hearts and spirituality of Catholics. We see her guiding presence within the Gospels and even in the Acts of the Apostles. Many times meditations on the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary asking her to be the mother of God, focus on the visit itself and what it must have been like for her. But what if we took another look at a different angle, specifically, her acceptance.

How many times have we had experiences that were drastically different from what we expected? At times like this my family will comment, “that’s not what I signed up for!” At the time of Jesus, the Jews were expecting a much different Messiah than Jesus. They expected Him to rid the land of the Romans and restore the earthly kingdom. If that’s what Mary was expecting, she was definitely mistaken. Perhaps throughout His life, Jesus prepared her for His eventual Passion and Death, but she could not have known what was going to happen when she said yes. Did she know He would be an itinerant preacher? As she is mentioned in the Gospel at the places where Jesus was teaching, perhaps she accompanied Him on His travels. If she was expecting a more militant savior, the travel probably didn’t surprise her, but perhaps the teachings did. 

If we put ourselves in Mary’s place at the time of the Annunciation, what we can expect is her assessing the risk she was taking by saying yes. As a woman who was only betrothed, she faced scandal by her family, her community, and even her future husband, Joseph. She could have been ostracized or worse, by law stoned to death. And she still said yes. While Mary was still quite young, thought to be a teenager, she was still of an age to marry and have children in those times. But even in her short life at the time, she trusted in God, no matter what consequences came from it.  

God asks us to trust Him like Mary did. While He probably won’t send an angel messenger to obtain our agreement, He still wants us to be open to His Will, even during trials and challenges. As the Church acknowledges Mary’s conception free from original sin, we see that God prepared Mary in a very special way for the special role she has in salvation history. God prepares us in a similar way, for each blessing and challenge is built upon our response to the previous opportunities in our lives. Each time we are free to accept God’s will or to choose our own way, and with each decision, we must also accept the consequences that come as a result of our choices. 

Mary’s gift of acceptance to God has become a role model for us all to follow, regardless of the risks or the consequences. When we accept God’s will, there will be many blessings but also many trials, however, He will always be there for us and help us through it. It may not be what we expect for our lives, but if we are truly doing His will, then our expectations are changed from secular, worldly matters, to the goal of reaching heaven and spending eternity with God and with Mary.