Greetings, favored one!

Today is the feast of the Annunciation.  Today we remember Gabriel's announcement to Mary that she would become pregnant before marriage and raise an extraordinary son.
   As I read the Gospel passage, I'm drawn to three phrases of Gabriel's.  Three times he seems to offer a blessing or reassurance, and each time reminds me that these words are needed precisely because things are about to get hard.
   "Greetings, favored one!"  An angel appears from nowhere.  Or perhaps he knocks and walks in, a stranger.  However he arrives, he is not familiar.  The favor he announces is in fact a honor that her neighbors will see as disgrace.  This fits the upside-down world of the Gospel, where God's values break into a world that runs on other principles.  But for this young girl, as for many of us, the good news doesn't initially feel like favor.
   "The Lord is with you."  This familiar phrase may sound comforting to us, who hear it in church over and over, but as I ponder it I'm unnerved.  The immensity of God, the awesome power of the creator, is here with me?  Far from snuggling into my chair, I want to fall on the ground.  Perhaps we sing "lift up your hearts" after invoking God at the Eucharist precisely because the first announcement should have us on the floor in terror.
   But then we get the third good word.  If we've survived meeting the messenger and realizing God is with us, then comes this: "Don't be afraid."
   This is always a bad sign.  No one tells us to not be afraid unless there's something to be afraid of.
   "You have found favor with God."
   Well, who wouldn't want that?  But we know what that means.  It's the beginning of a lifetime of challenges and fears and disappointments.  It's the beginning of grief.  Later, joy will come in the morning, but even that joy can't eclipse the sheer bewilderment, the utter bafflement of seeing your Son resurrected from the dead.  Mary will know great joy and great pain.  The one thing she is not likely to know is the simple comfort of an ordinary life.
   Today begins Mary's journey to the cross and beyond.  The favor bestowed on her is the favor of an extraordinary life, of fears faced and loves embraced.  Her favor is surprise and wonder, both at what happens to her and at what she herself is capable of.  It's a fearsome, daunting favor she receives.
   May you be favored today with the extraordinary potential of your ordinary life.  May you find courage to enter whole-heartedly into God's dream for you.  May you be an angel in turn.
   Happy Annunciation!