Mary in her own words

This blog post is a reading from my book The People Who Knew Jesus: Monologues for Advent and Lent. If you click on the link, you'll be taken to the book's page on Amazon if you want to purchase the book. 

Mary

I was a young virgin who was engaged to Joseph, an older man who was a carpenter. He would be able to take good care of me.

But one day, while I was praying, the angel Gabriel visited me.  I was frightened.  Why would an angel want to talk to me?  “Hail, O favored one,” he said. Favored by who? By God?

Gabriel said that I would conceive and bear a son.  His name would be Jesus and He would be the Son of the Most High, and that He would be given the throne of his father David.  I realized that Gabriel was speaking of the Messiah. 

But I was confused.  How would be the baby be conceived if I was not yet married to Joseph?  I asked Gabriel how this would happen.  Gabriel explained that the Holy Spirit would overshadow me and I would conceive, so that my son would also be the Son of God. 

Gabriel also had other news – my aunt Elizabeth was six months pregnant.  I remembered that Elizabeth and Zechariah had been praying for a baby for a long time.  I told Gabriel that I would be the Lord’s servant and bear the Son of God.

I told Joseph I was pregnant by the Holy Spirit, but he was upset. I went to visit Elizabeth.  Elizabeth’s baby leapt in her womb when he heard my voice. I stayed at Elizabeth’s house for three months and then I went home to my family.

Caesar Augustus, the Roman ruler, ordered a census and Joseph and I had to travel to Bethlehem to be counted, since that was where his family was from.  It was a long journey, especially riding on the back of a donkey, and it was close to time for baby Jesus to be born.  As soon as we got to Bethlehem, my labor pains began. 

We went to the inn, but we were too late – there were no rooms left. Joseph was angry and I was worried and in pain.  Where would baby Jesus be born?  Finally, the innkeeper offered his stable to us and Joseph accepted.  Where else could we go? At least in the stable, we would be out of the cold.

Baby Jesus was finally born, and I wrapped Him in a cloth and laid Him in the manger.  The animals looked at baby Jesus, as if they realized that their Creator had come down to visit them.  The shepherds came to the stable and told us about their angelic visitors.  They knelt down at the manger and worshiped baby Jesus.

I will never forget the night Jesus was born.  The world’s long wait was over; the Savior had finally come down to the earth He created, in the form of a child.  And I was blessed to be the Savior’s mother.

Thanks as always for reading! And Merry Christmas! 

Diane