She was young...fifteen maybe. She was plain, but pretty. Something about her made you know that she was pure, innocent...not as "worldly" as the other girls. But she was like them in other ways.
She laughed, and talked of things to come. Hopes and dreams and promises of a husband and family some day. The things young girls speak about when they are alone.
She was diligent to help her mom in all the daily chores...but she also took time out to go for walks and think about the lovely world around her... and what her future might hold.
An ordinary teen-age girl, a little different, perhaps, because her family served God, and had protected her innocence.
It was, perhaps on one of these walks that it happened. I don't really know. It remains a mystery to this day. All I can tell you is that it was very unexpected.
One moment she was enjoying the stillness of the day...and had stopped to admire a beautiful wildflower growing next to a tall old oak tree...the next moment she was surrounded by light. Bright...brighter than the sun...
She had never experienced anything like that...
She tried to look into the light...but quickly shielded her eyes and fell to her knees, crying out...who are you...what's going on?...
The intensity of the light prevented her from seeing anything...but she perceived the presence of...I don't know...someone... something...and... peace. Great, and mighty and overpowering...peace.
She tried in vain to gaze at the light, shielding her eyes and squinting against the brightness as she cried out once more...who are you, sir...what do you want?
She was trying so hard to be brave, but nothing like this had ever happened to her...or anyone she knew. She was trying to make sense of it all...but it was impossible. Her breathing was rapid and labored...her thoughts were spinning and dizzy...fear was her companion and nothing would line up with reason in her mind. And then the sound came.
It was a booming sound...reverberating so that it not only fell on her ears, but shook her insides as though traveling through every cell of her body. It was like a voice...but yet...not like any voice she had ever heard. It was thunderously loud, and...this is so strange to try and explain...but it was also, filled with this...peace.
She stayed on her knees, trembling...waiting...pushing back the tears that were forming in her eyes...calling on God from her heart...to help her in this, this...whatever it was that was happening.
She could actually feel the beating of her heart in her ears...and it was muffling the sound of the voice. "What did he say?...what? Some sort of strange greeting..."Hail, Mary...full of grace"? How did he know her name...who was he? Why was he calling her "favored of God"? Ohhh, if her heart would just stop beating so fast and hard and let her think...
"Who are you", she cried out again, her voice quaking with fear and the mystery of it all...
And then the peace...the awesome peace...fell like rain all around her. It was tangible, but invisible...she could feel it soothing her to calmness, stilling her heart.
"Mary, it's all right. Don't be afraid. I am not here to harm you. I have come to give you a message from heaven. You have found favor with God, and He sends me to you now to tell how special you are. You have been chosen for something wonderful."
She dared not look at the direction of the sound. Her eyes widened as she thought of what he...whoever he was...was saying. It occurred to her, at that moment, that she may have eaten some berries of the wrong kind. That happened to her friend Lydia, last summer, and she tossed and turned on her bed for days, hearing and seeing things that were not real.
Her mind was grasping for understanding, and that was all she could think...and yet...she knew she had not eaten anything that day but the bread her mother made, and a cup of goat's milk.
The voice was speaking again...and this time it was saying something so strange she could scarcely perceive the meaning.
"You will conceive in your womb, and bear a son...and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High... and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father...David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and His kingdom will have no end."
The young girl's heart began pounding again, and she thought to herself, "I am engaged to be married, this is true...but we have not had relations. I am still a virgin. The Lord knows that I would never bring such shame upon my father's house. This cannot happen. This is impossible. I mean...if I've never been with anyone...she felt her face color with embarrssment, at the thought, and then the mystery of it all began to play with her mind again.
That's when it occurred to her that this might be really happening. She remember her father's reading from the book of the Law... the stories...the prophesies of a King, who would be born of a virgin. HaMachiah...The Messiah... but it couldn't be her...how could it be her?
She suddenly felt very small and unworthy of such a visitation. And that is the moment that she realized this was an angel. She was being visited by an angel from heaven. Ohhh, how she wanted to look at him and behold his image...but she could not see past the brightness.
Feeling a bit bolder, now, however, she managed to ask how it could be possible for her to have a baby when she had never been with a man.
The angel answered her before the question was fully off her lips...as if he anticipated her asking this thing.
In the thunderous voice he proceeded to explain;
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...and for that reason...the holy offspring shall be called...The Son of God!"
"This is not an illusion, Mary", he carried on. "This is reality. And if you don't believe me about what I've spoken to you...then consider this...I have already been to visit your cousin, Elizabeth, and she, too, is pregnant... in her sixth month, in fact... and you know full well that she is approaching old age, and no longer able to conceive a child according to the natural order of things.
You must understand, Mary...you must believe, Mary... NOTHING
oh...she wanted to cover her ears...the voice was so loud...but she dared not...as he proclaimed this last statement
...NOTHING will be impossible with God!"
The tears fell freely, now. She did believe. "Elizabeth, pregnant? She must be in her fiftieth year, now...and six months along? An angel cannot lie...but we all thought Elizabeth was barren... Oh my," she thought, "This is happening to me!" and courage rose up in her heart...along with tremendous joy at the mere thought that she could be the one to bear the highly anticipated Jewish Messiach...the future king of Israel... and she bowed her face to the ground and in an audible, yet hushed and humbled voice she replied,
"Behold, the handmaiden of the Lord...be it done to me according to your word." and the angel departed.
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