Mary´s "Yes" is called the Fiat: in Latin, "Let it be done."

Following her example of obedience to God, we can learn to serve delicately without being slavish. In Mary we don’t find the slightest trace of the attitude of the foolish virgins, who obey, but thoughtlessly. Our Lady listens attentively to what God wants, ponders what she doesn’t fully understand and asks about what she doesn’t know. Then she gives herself completely to doing God's will: Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to your word. Isn’t that marvelous? The blessed Virgin, our teacher in all we do, shows us here that obedience to God is not servile, does not bypass our conscience. We should be inwardly moved to discover "the freedom of the children of God." - St. Josemaria Escriva: 1902 –1975 was a Roman Catholic priest from Spain who founded Opus Dei, an organization of laypeople and priests dedicated to the teaching that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity)

Scripture Text: (IS 7:10-14; 8:10)

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:

Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;

let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!

But Ahaz answered,

“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”

Then Isaiah said:

Listen, O house of David!

Is it not enough for you to weary people,

must you also weary my God?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:

the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,

and shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us!”

Today we remember the astonishing fact that God became a helpless and tiny human being attached to the wall of a teen-age girl's uterus. The almighty infinite God became human flesh smaller than our fingernail: no one ever imagined it or prayed for it.

God's incarnation was so astounding that to the present day we do not know what to think of it. Why would God do such a thing?   Why would the all holy and all powerful God become human? To Muslims and Jews it seems blasphemous to suggest that the Supreme Being became a tiny human in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Why would the Creator become a creature? How can this be?  The incarnation of the Son of God blows our minds.

The only response we can make to the mystery of the incarnation is "God is love."  He does the unimaginable because he is love. He became a man because he is love. He lets himself to be crucified on a tree and die an ignominious death because he is love.  He gives us himself, his body and blood in the Eucharist because he is love.  

If we begin to understand that the incarnation of the Son of God is a mystery, we will be wise enough to worship, obey and serve Jesus with abandon. We will receive the incarnate Jesus in Holy Communion as often as possible, we will tell the world about him.  We will never be the same. We will be shocked out of our selfishness into reality.