Check my: Facebook page, emails, voice mail, Twitter account. Catch the news: television, radio (traffic and weather together on the 5’s), internet. Common stressors: another “pink slip” rumor – will my hours be cut? The smog check is due before the car registration can be renewed. What is the future of Social Security and Medicare?
Is it any wonder that we are on overload, suffering from 21st century attention deficit? Bombarded by communication – some fostering incredible anxiety and stress.
Now visualize Mary, the young maiden of Nazareth, engaged to Joseph. Any overload that Mary experienced was simple by today’s standards. Perhaps uncertainty about the wood samples that Joseph brought her for the cabinet work in their future home. Perhaps concern over a limping donkey. Perhaps concern for Joachim who was starting to display memory problems. Perhaps concern for cousins Elizabeth and Zachary, without children, facing an uncertain future in their senior years.
Although we do not know Mary’s level of overload, we do know that she was human – prone to experience anxiety (Luke 2:48). But Mary was also full of grace, with a spiritual reservoir to help her cope with basic human anxieties. As a woman of deep prayer who often reflected on the Scriptures, we know that Mary was able to focus on the one thing necessary – her relationship with God, a relationship characterized by profound trust.
When Gabriel appeared to Mary, he quickly spoke to dispel her fear. Gabriel proclaimed, “the Lord is with you.” Our choice is to disconnect, if only briefly, from all that bombards us, to cherish silence, and to embrace God’s presence, especially in Scripture. St. Paul’s commandment is simple: “Dismiss all anxiety from your minds.” (Phil 4:6) What a transformative practice this might be during these last days of Advent and 2011.
- Sr. Mary Lisa Megaffin, SND
