Nicole Berlucchi, Writer on a Mission

Image used with permission of Tribe of Many Arrows.
Check them out on Etsy: TribeofManyArrows – Etsy.

For the month of October the “That We May Imitate What They Contain and Obtain What They Promise” series will take a daily look at one mystery of the Rosary and how we have the opportunity to imitate it and rejoice in what it promises us.

Today, we look at the first Joyful Mystery of the Rosary: the Annunciation.

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named, Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail favored one! The Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold 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 David, his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be since I have no relations with a man?” And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God. Mary said, “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. Luke 1:26-38 (NABRE)

While our focus most often tends to be on saying yes to God in imitation of the Annunciation, which is an important way to imitate this mystery, let’s include that but go a bit deeper with a few other ways to imitate all that is happening in the scene of the Annunciation. God has designed these as mysteries for a reason, because we are supposed to search the scripture for all He has hidden in His Living Word. These are a handful of what has bubbled up for me.

1. Show Mary respect and awe. We see the Archangel Gabriel greeting Mary, “Hail, favored one!” Pay attention. This is no small thing that an Archangel greets her with such fervor and respect. We should do the same. She is the Mother of God. She is special as she was chosen and designed for this unique and elevated role in the story of salvation. Why is her role elevated? Because she holds the unrevealed knowledge of Christ’s hidden life, so many stories not told in the Gospels, she knows. She knows Jesus better than any human who has or will walk the earth. She possesses Him in a way no other human does, as biological Son, as overcome by the Holy Spirit so that she understands the great love between the Father and the Son. This very love created Christ within her. She understands the powerful love of God in such a complete way that the Redeemer, Jesus, came to exist within her, physically. Be like St. Gabriel and greet her with reverence and awe that the Mother of God deserves. When I say the Hail Mary, I try to focus on the grace she has been extended, knowing she is extending it to us so that we can know her Son like she does.
2. Listen to understand. Mary does not receive the Archangel’s greeting with pride or smugness. She instead immediately recognizes the power of God at work here and seeks to understand what the Lord is trying to communicate through St. Gabriel in his greeting of her. How often do affirmations come our way that we get swept up in the feeling we get about ourselves rather than taking time to reflect on what it all means, how we are growing, what we are being called to? Sometimes the Lord provides clues about our path in little affirmations of others. I cannot tell you how many times someone from my fundraising career had to tell me what a great writer I was before I sat back and pondered like Mary “what could this mean” instead of simply feeling good about getting a compliment on my writing.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask the Lord (or your Guardian Angel) questions. Mary teaches us that the Lord is OK for us to come to Him with our questions, especially when He has tasked us with something big, something bewildering, something unexpected. When the Lord gives us something big, it’s usually because He wants us leaning into Him a bit more. He expects us to have questions. He wants to help us and assure us that we were designed for His special works. I had the Lord once ask me to quit a successful career because I was using it as my identity instead of rooting my identity in being His daughter. It was wildly crazy. I cannot tell you how many questions I asked before I quit, but there were a lot of questions. Months of questions. I wasn’t as solid as Mary, ready to leap in just one conversation. I took some convincing. The important thing is that you stay in conversation with the Lord.
4. Let angels or messengers in your life speak of the possibilities and the truth of who you are and who God is OR be a messenger to someone who needs you to speak of the truth of who they are and who God is into their life. In response, to Mary’s questions, St. Gabriel lays out the big plans and tells her to have no fear. Mary can tell that St. Gabriel is speaking with authority and truth. She does not question any further what He is saying God has ordained in her life. We need angels in our lives sometimes to remind us to have no fear, that God created us for greatness, that He gave us many gifts and talents to use in this life. Sometimes God needs us to be like St. Gabriel encouraging our friends, family and neighbors for what they are uniquely designed to do. Speak those truths of encouragement and support. In my writing journey, I cannot tell you how the texts or the verbal “keep going” messages have helped me not back away from giving up in the face of doubt or fear. We need each other on this journey. God designed us that way, so allow yourself to be encouraged and encourage others as well.
5. Say yes and trust. In the end, God is really asking only one thing of us: to say yes to Him and His designs for our life. We can be wonder what He has planned for us, we can ask questions about what we think He might have planned for us, we can be encouraged by the messengers He places in our life, but in the end, He is expecting that to lead us to our YES to Him. Mary says it best, “Be it done to me according to Thy Word.” She hands her life to Him. She says in no short terms: You speak whatever You are going to speak into my life, and let it happen. I am all in. I trust you. This was basically what I said to God when I did actually swing through on leaving my job. I was like, God, you are telling me, and I am doing it. I expect You will take care of everything. And He did. In more ways than I could have ever imagined. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been worth it. I would do it over and over again for the grace, healing, time and number of other gifts I have received in saying “Yes” to Him and trusting.

So much happening in one mystery of the Rosary and in each section, you could dig in a bit more, looking and considering the language, imagining the scene and posture of St. Gabriel and Mary. Often St. Gabriel is depicted over her, but sometimes I wonder if he had not bowed low for her, especially once Jesus was Incarnate. Take time to sit in the gift of this mystery of the start of Christ’s life on earth.

So, in considering how we are to imitate this mystery, we must then consider what in turn we can hope to obtain in imitating it. Those things become quite clear to me. But in case they are not clear to you, we receive and recognize the gift of Mary as our mother. We obtain guidance from God by listening for His voice and direction; He wants to have a conversational relationship with us. He will provide angels or messengers who will encourage us along our way, and He will provide humility and courage to follow His great plans for our life.

The fruit of this mystery is humility and to imitate and obtain all of the above would bear a great deal of humility in your life. I pray that you will see the fruits of this mystery as you continue to reflect on this throughout your day.

Visit Tribe of Many Arrows on Etsy. These images are used with their permission, and I am grateful for these beautiful creations accompanying my reflections this month.