Sometimes we need to pause in order to make sense of things — and of ourselves. In the world of sports, a gesture is used to call for a timeout. In my family, when we need to rewind and go back to the beginning, we have our own expression: “before before,” which we sometimes jokingly extend to “before before before.”
A few weeks ago, I also felt the need to pause: to return to the beginning. So I went to Nazaret, to the Grotto of the Annunciation, which has been a pilgrimage destination since the first century. The grotto is protected by the modern two-story Basilica. There, on the floor beneath the altar, is the inscription: Verbo hic caro factum est. Here the Word became flesh.
Nazareth – Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth
Nazareth, the Place of Mary’s Annunciation
Here, in this very place, a teenage girl — a young woman with a clear mind, a pure gaze, and a soul wide open to what is greatest, to love — received an invitation to become the Mother of God!
There was neither doubt nor haste in her response. Faced with mystery, with something beyond all human understanding, there was only the calm and trusting question of someone fully willing to cooperate, to become completely involved, without pausing to consider her own ability: “How…?” And the answer of the divine Messenger, both luminous and mysterious at once: “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.”
Mother of God! Mary answered: “Let it be done,” the very same words spoken by God in the beginning, when He created the world: “Let there be.” “Let there be light,” He said, and there was light. Mary’s word became forever united with the Word of God — the Word of Truth, which expresses and makes present the infinite and eternal love of God.
I remained there, absorbed in silence, contemplating the scene: the whole plan of God, His promise of salvation, hanging upon Mary’s yes. Blessed are you among women! Every generation will bless you and recognize in your words of complete trust in God — let it be done — the moment through which the Word, the Word of God, became flesh and dwelt among us. God, true God and true man, exchanged His eternity for our time, so that He might bring our time into His eternity.
Afterward, I walked through Nazaret, where Jesus lived among His neighbors as one of them for thirty years, and I stopped by Joseph’s workshop.
On our way back to Jerusalén, we passed through Caná. There, once again, Mary’s words came to me, this time as advice worth following: “Do whatever He tells you.” The servants obeyed and filled the jars with water to the brim. And Jesus, as a good Son of such a good Mother, transformed it into the finest wine.
By Carmen Rodríguez Éyre