I don’t know about you, but to have the faith that Mary exhibited when she was told she would be impregnated with God’s own Son, is more than a little hard to imagine. The news itself was impossible from a human standpoint.

It’s easy for us to understand her question, “How could this be?”

Yet the answer was far beyond belief. Even so, Mary accepted the news from the angel Gabriel. She would carry the Messiah in her womb for the next nine months – endure the birth pains – hold the helpless child in her arms – watch him grow into a little boy – see Him scuff his knees while at play, blister His hands as he shaped wood aside His stepfather and to be surrounded by poverty and need. She would see his passion for His heavenly Father as He spoke in the temple as a young man of twelve. She would watch as He grew into a man and preached the scriptures with authority. Eventually, she would see her Son suffer torture and humiliation, hang from a cross, suffer and die to pay for the sins of the world. She would also rejoice with His followers as Jesus rose from the dead on the third day.

She was just a child herself when she heard Gabriel’s message. Still the faith of a child is what God wants from all of us, isn’t it. Mary accepted her future, her destiny, her mission with exactly that kind of faith. Oh that the Holy Spirit would create that kind of belief in our hearts too.

A child just turned a woman, became the chosen one,

To hold the Son of God within – to be her firstborn Son,

She wasn’t someone special – a lowly servant girl,

But God had special plans for her and also for the world.

Through Mary’s contemplation of this exalted state,

She knew that God would come to earth to wipe away all hate,

To bring to man forgiveness from every single sin,

Fulfill His word of promise and make us clean within.