“Rejoice, you who enjoy God’s favour!” Lk 1:28

How does Mary welcome the invitation of the angel?

At the heart of an unconditional availability, she moves from one attitude to another….

From fear to daring…
From doubt to faith…
From surprise to acceptance…
From amazement to questioning…
From fear to confidence …
From interiority to exteriority…
From silence to dialogue…
From bewilderment to obedience…

Mary listens, reflects, progresses in the dialogue with the Angel, then she accepts the Angel’s proposal.

What are we invited to do through this Gospel?

We must not stop God’s project because God has a vocation for each one of us. To be attentive to God’s word, to the words of others’ and to events, to welcome the One who is to come. We are invited, through humility and confidence, to be open. Let ourselves be guided by the Voice of God who invites us to obey.

What is our response to God today in relation to our life?

Responding to God can result in the rejection and misunderstanding of others; in a way, faith can isolate us.  Being pregnant at the age of 17, and without being married, made Joseph want to renounce Mary. In our societies, when a young woman – through her choices – does not match with what the others expect from her, this situation may happen again – that is to say being rejected and misunderstood, being marginalized.

We have to surrender our lives – with our weaknesses – into the hands of God. It is a call: to welcome our differences and place them in God’s hands – by means of our differences, He moves our projects, and sometimes our life. Mary had other plans than the one that was given to her by the Angel, her consenting to it upset her life and ours.

We are here to live out our mission, attentive to the needs of each one we let ourselves be transformed by the Word of God every day. Many come knocking on our door – each time it is a new listening, a new encounter, a new patience, a new mercy.

In Madagascar, we always have the courage to continue, the courage to live each day, the courage to smile always; we are a people on the move, believing. We are always awake, we see so many men and women who walk on roads and paths, all day and all night, in order to live, to survive. Through their lives they call us to recognize the One who was born in our hearts, who comes to join us on our road, to become our everyday companion, our companion for eternity, who mingles His footsteps with ours, with the footsteps of all those displaced people, our brothers and sisters in humanity.