What does it take to see a miracle unfolding? 

The mind constantly tries to legitimize and rationalize. 

Does it take angels declaring and unborn babies leaping for joy?

Mary accepts that nothing is impossible with God who is at work in the world. 

She surrenders to the implication of what her response means 

not only for her but for other Marys in other villages and in other times. 

I wonder if God offered this gift to women before her. 

Did they decline? 

Was the risk too great? 

Did they lack a sisterhood of support? 

With informed consent, 

Mary humbly accepts this invitation as God’s highly favored servant. 

God with us, 

Emmanuel dwelled and grew and was nurtured within her body. 

Cosmic shifts as a tiny baby emerges to become one of us – 

son, brother, friend, teacher, rabbi, Messiah, Christ. 

Mary bears witness as he grows into the fullness of God’s possibility. 

From the scandal of his conception and birth

The scandal of his ministry

The scandal of his arrest, tortured, and executed as an enemy of the state. 

Mary stood by him – at times no doubt she was worried and confused. 

But she trusted in Divine promises, 

adored her son, 

and was favored to be part of God’s scandalous love story. 

And all generations call her blessed.