IC Day Nine: Place of Peace

From the very first mystery, the Annunciation, where Gabriel's greeting to the Virgin of Nazareth is linked to an invitation to messianic joy: “Rejoice, Mary”. The whole of salvation history, in some sense the entire history of the world, has led up to this greeting. If it is the Father's plan to unite all things in Christ (cf. Eph 1:10), then the whole of the universe is in some way touched by the divine favor with which the Father looks upon Mary and makes her the Mother of his Son. The whole of humanity, in turn, is embraced by the fiat with which she readily agrees to the will of God. (Pope John Paul II)

My Reflection:

In the midst of the messiness of carrying a child whose seed was planted in her womb by an unknown source, and the chaos that it must have caused in the environment among the relatives and above all the fiancé', there must have been a place of calm in the soul of Mary. I have no proof, but I believe that her immaculate conception must have touched her in more ways than just leaving her free from the sin. I believe it must have left her with the awareness that she had been touched by God. She was like us in every way but sin. She had moments when she would be troubled, just like we are, but then she would stop and "ponder things in her heart" I think that she went to that place within herself, a place of peace, an oasis of God's presence and there she found the inner strength to say YES, to move ahead, and to follow the path the Lord had planned for her.

Dear Mary, you had that inner place naturally, we can have it too, if we
will just look for it. Help us, dear Mother of God, to be present to this
sacred time and in the midst of the chaos of our daily lives to find the
sacred within and rest there. Amen.
Teresa Monaghen

IC Day Nine: Place of Peace