Written by Barb Spies, OFS, Director of Mission Services and Pastoral Care

I have a friend who is a Franciscan Friar. I can remember working with him on a calendar, making plans for campus ministry at the university. It would be early in the year, and he’d say, “Christmas is coming!” So, here we are in March and I am thinking, “Christmas is coming!” On March 25, we celebrate the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her that she would make possible the Incarnation. “Christmas is coming!” Mary was to play a hugely important role by bearing God’s Son. Her God-given participation in Jesus being here with us is one that is filled with grace from beginning to end.  

Mary’s “YES” is depicted beautifully in the sanctuary on Mount La Verna in the Tuscan Appenines in Italy. This Franciscan sanctuary of La Verna commemorates St. Francis receiving the stigmata there. The gorgeous art of Andrea della Robbia offers glazed terra cotta depicions of several Gospel stories that are stunning. Because the images are three dimensional, they are all the more captivating. They also remind us that “Christmas is coming!” The Incarnation  is the gift that comes from Mary’s yes.

The Annunciation is one of my favorite Bible stories. Mary accepts this visit from the angel Gabriel with such calm. She is curious and a bit confused, but so accepting. Then she goes to visit her cousin, Elizabeth, offering her bold statements on social justice in the Magnificat, telling us that God will scatter the proud in their conceit, cast down the mighty from their thrones, lift the lowly, and fill the hungry with good things, while sending the rich away empty. If this isn’t a clear reminder to us of what we should be doing, I don’t know what is!  

As we continue on our Lenten journey, we can take a moment in prayer to thank God for the model that Mary offers to all of us. Respond to God’s call with willingness. Focus on justice for the underserved. And after we pray, we can act accordingly in our discipline of almsgiving, taking our own role in lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with good things. Even in Lent, and especially on the day that we remember the Annunciation, we also know that “Christmas is coming!”

Blessed Angela: “Throughout your life look at Mary as your model which you must imitate.”