The Lucan Gospel narrative of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) is the elaboration of the Johannine statement of the Incarnation (John 1:1-5, 14). In other words, the Gabriel’s message to Mary on her virgin conception of Jesus through the Holy Spirit is how the Word-God became the human flesh of Jesus. But, this took place at the expense of some psychological disturbance to Mary. Nevertheless, the Lucan narrative of the Annunciation also describes how Mary overcame this psychological disturbance with her faith.
Upon reading the Gospel
text for the solemn feast of the Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38), imagine what it
would be like to be told that you are pregnant out of the blue even though you
have never had a man laid on you – even though you are a virgin? Even though
you were thinking to get married and have children with your husband, it was
not that time yet. But, you were told that you had been made pregnant in a
mysterious way by God’s will, with no regard whatsoever to your will. What
would you make out of it? Because it was done against your will, in protest,
would you consider abortion? Whose will would you value more: your will or God’s
will? The Gospel Reading (Luke 1:26-38) invites us to reflect and ponder such
questions upon ourselves.
According to Luke, Gabriel,
a messenger (angel) of God, came to Mary, out of the blue, saying,” Hail, favored
one! The Lord is with you”(Luke 1:28).
And, Mary was “διεταράχθη/ dietarachthe)”
– perturbed with a certain intensity (Luke 1:29). She was psychologically
disturbed by the greetings of Gabriel and wondered what kind of greeting it
might be.
Sensing that the state
of Mary’s heart was disturbed, Gabriel said:
Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor
with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall
name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and
the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule
over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end (Luke 1:30-33).
Obviously, Mary was not able to comprehend – her mind was unable to process the meaning of this message – though Gabriel said, “not to worry”.
She was repeatedly
reminded of having a special favor of God (Luke 1:28, 30), alluding to the fact
that she is full of grace for God made her the Immaculate Conception. But, Mary
had no idea about this and wondered why – why she. And, she also wondered how
she, a virgin, could conceive a child. Furthermore, she wondered what she has
to do with the son, who is to be named Jesus, which means “God saves”, called
Son of the Most High, being Davidic to rule over Israel, the house of Jacob,
forever. Mary is a lowly peasant girl. So, she must have wondered what the
Davidic son of the Most High, destine to rule Israel has something to do with
her.
So, she could not help
but say:
How can this be, since I have no relations with a
man?(Luke 1:34).
To this, Gabriel gave her
a two-fold answer:
It is possible because
this is a work of the Holy Spirit by the power of God (v. 35).
It is because God makes
it possible for a virgin to become pregnant as He makes it possible that a
barren old age woman (Elizabeth) becomes pregnant (v. 36).
Conclusion: There is nothing impossible for God as He
wills (v. 37).
Gabriel already
explained why God was making her pregnant:
It is because God made
her full of grace – God’s favored one (v. 28, v. 30).
It is because God is
fulfilling all of the salvific prophecies through the Messiah through the Son
of God conceived in her womb (vv. 31-33).
So, Mary accepted God’s
will on her, as explained by Gabriel, with her fiat:
Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be
done to me according to your word
(Luke 1:38).
Does it mean that Mary
understood everything about her unplanned pregnancy as told by Gabriel?
Probably not.
Mary might not fully
understand but accepted the she was made pregnant with a son of the Most High –
Son of God – who is to grow great to rule Israel forever. It means that she
accepted her surprise unplanned mysterious pregnancy for God had already
planned for our salvation. Though Mary was not aware, what she accepted was God’s
salvific plan mentioned way back when Adam and Eve were being evicted from Eden
(Genesis 3:15) and that she was the virgin
prophesized when Judah was ruled by Ahaz, more than 700 years ago, as a great
sign of God’s power (Isaiah 7:14).
Perhaps, it was just
too much for a Nazarene peasant girl to understand at once. Nevertheless, Mary
just accepted with her fiat (Luke 1:38) with a state of mind of what the
Filipinos describe as “bahala na” or
what the Japanese describe as “shikataga
nai”, roughly, these mean “it cannot be helped” – it cannot be helped to
understand according to human wisdom because it reflects God’s wisdom.
According to a clinical
principle of Morita Therapy (Morita, 1998/1928), a psychotherapeutic method to
treat anxiety-related psychosomatic disorders, the primary step toward
overcoming anxiety and fear is to accept what can make us anxious and fearful
as it is. Therefore, Mary must have
become less anxious by the time she accepted her pregnancy as it was told,
compared to when she was troubled with Gabriel’s greeting, when she was not
explained what it was about.
And, this is Mary’s
faith that worked for her in response to her initial psychological disturbance,
as in the clinical principle of Morita Therapy - acceptance. More precisely, it
was her relationship with God, known as “vertical faith”, as operationally
defined in the Faith Maturity Scale (FMS)(Benson and Erickson, 1993). It means
that her vertical faith, reflecting her secure attachment with God, was mature
enough to accept what God wills on her, regardless of her own will and her
understanding. And, this kept her anxiety under control, as empirically
verified in the 21st century (Salsman & Carlson, 2005).
Mary was able to keep
anxiety and fear from interfering her commitment to God’s will on her through
her faith, which enabled her to accept her virgin pregnancy as it was told by
Gabriel. And this is a good example of Morita Therapy’s efficacious clinical
principle from a perspective of faith in God.
During the course of
her pregnancy with Jesus and raising him, witnessing his growth and following
him during the nearly 3 years of his public ministry to be lifted up on the
Cross, it was certain that Mary had to cope with bouts of anxiety.
Nevertheless, because of her mature vertical faith, which enabled her to accept
any distressing situation, without being so overwhelmed, as in the clinical
principle of Morita Therapy, Mary was able to fulfill what she accepted with
her fiat, allowing her Son, to consummate his salvific mission on earth.
Because of Mary, being
able to put her psychological disturbance in control from the moment of the
Annunciation on, due to her mature vertical faith, her Son was born and grew up
strong and able to do his Father’s will, as reflected in the Second Reading for
this solemnity (Hebrew 10:4-10) and sung in the Responsorial Psalm (40:7-8a,
8b-9, 10, 11).
Is your faith mature
enough to accept what makes no sense to human wisdom, upon recognizing it as
God’s will on you, as Mary accepted her surprise mysterious virgin pregnancy?
Is your faith mature and strong like Mary’s faith? Or, is your faith still
immature, as your ego demands disturbs God’s will being put on you?
References:
Benson, J., Donahue, M.J., Erickson, J.A. (1993). The faith maturity scale: Conceptualization, measurement and empirical validation. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 5: 1-26.
Morita, S. (1998). Kondo (Trans.); LeVine (Ed.) (1928
translation] Morita therapy and the true nature of anxiety-based disorders:
Shinkeishitsu. NY: State University of New York Press.
Salsman, J.M. & Carlson, C.R. (2005). Mature Faith, and Psychological Distress: Elements of Positive and Negative Associations Charles R. Carlson. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 44(2), 201-209
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