2 Sam. 7:1-5, 8-12, 14a, 16; Ps.89:2-5, 27, 29; Rom. 16:25-27; Lk 1:26-38

“Hail, full of grace!” “for nothing will be impossible for God” do we believe this?  The blessed Mother Mary historically has been a stumbling block for many believers of the Trinity.  Those who oppose her as the “Mother of God” see through the eyes of humanity a woman, mother of the incarnation of Jesus humanity but not his divinity.  Jesus is one, fully human and divine and not divided in two.  For Jesus coming the angel prepares Mary in her humanity born “full of grace” meaning without sin to be the dwelling place of Jesus, second person of the Trinity, one God for nothing is impossible for God.  Full of grace has no room to allow sin to enter united to Mary’s fiat she remains full of grace for the entirety of her earthly pilgrimage as she is assumed into heaven. 

In the Davidic history the king sat on the throne and to his right side the seat was reserved for the woman.  This woman was not his wife but his mother had her rightful place next to the king.  When the mother of his disciples, James and John approaches Jesus seeking to have her sons sit at the right and left side of Jesus in his kingdom, Jesus corrects them all in announcing “to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father” (Mat 20:23-24) Without disclosing for who this place of honor is reserved Jesus remains silent yet we see in salvation history it is the woman Mary who comes to us in apparitions calling us her children, interceding for us with her son as she did in the wedding of Cana and delivering the good news for those who believe.  Born full of grace she remains for all eternity without sin, the bride of the Father through the Holy Spirit she is now the mother of the children of God.  She is also the chosen dwelling place of the Son of God our Lord Jesus Christ. 

“Thus, says the Lord: Should you build me a house to dwell in?”  It is the Lord, the God of the impossible who has given David his kingdom “settled in his palace, ready to build the Lord a house who has prepared to come into the world through the womb of Mary to dwell in our midst.  This is the “revelation of the mystery kept secret for long ages but now manifested” in the birth of Jesus.  The revelation that God comes to create a dwelling place for himself within our being as one body in the kingdom of God.  We are united one soul to another in the one true God and his kingdom will last forever. 

Though we are not born full of grace, baptism is the first seed of grace to grow into the fullness of grace, that is to be perfect as called to be by the Father and blossom by the gifts of the Holy Spirit into the fruit of salvation.  Grace comes through prayer, ask and you shall receive, seek and you will find not to be hidden but to give light in the darkness of this world.  Grace is a gift to be multiplied as an offering back to the Lord.  When the Lord comes what will we give as testimony for the many blessings in our life?  The Lord recognizes his grace through the works of salvation.  It has been said “the Lord saves” but the Lord cannot save us without us giving our own fiat to his work in us. 

The question is often asked in the world “What is the secret of success?”  The foundation of success comes through obedience, discipline, and work to create the perfect kingdom for heaven and earth.  Obedience recognizes that there is a greater power at work beyond us and we learn to recognize this power.  As a child enters the world it recognizes by its nature the natural law at work in hunger, pain, pleasure and grows to recognize the divine law of beauty, goodness, truth, and unity.  In obedience it unites the two laws into one reality of the love of God and learns to be obedient to the great commandment of love of God and love of neighbor and receives grace.

Obedience to “other” takes ownership through discipline to be one with the other.  It gives its own “fiat” to what is right, just, and merciful.  It learns to recognize sin and reject it rather than be tempted into it.  Discipline is the BFF (Best Friend Forever) of obedience accepting grace and allowing it to transform us from our state of sin into the fullness of grace by the discipline following the Word made flesh, the teachings of the bride, the church and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  In discipline we learn what is right, just and merciful is not the easy road up the mountain of the Lord yet we walk by faith and discipline to the revelation of truth. 

Thus, what begins as obedience and is put into practice by discipline becomes the plan of salvation by the work put into our daily practice of life.  We work the plan of salvation given to us in our individual and collective calling to be one in the kingdom of God, though there are many gifts of grace we encounter the fullness of grace in the one body of Jesus Christ. Work the plan and we grow into the fullness of grace, into the perfection we are called to live, into the one revelation of our true self in the image of God. 

Seek and you will find, ask and it will be given to you, follow and you will arrive at the fullness of grace.  Let this be our prayer.  Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you.