In the story of the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel visits Mary of Nazareth to let her know God's plans for her: she will conceive and give birth to a son, Jesus, who "will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High" (Lc 1, 32). This episode follows in the wake of other Old Testament events that led sterile or very old women to miraculous births, whose children would carry out an important role in the history of salvation. Here, although Mary wants to freely embrace the mission of becoming the mother of the Messiah, she wonders how this will happen, given that she is a virgin. Gabriel assures her that it will not be the work of man: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you" (Lc 1, 35). And he adds:
"Nothing is impossible for God"
This certainty, which means that no declaration or promise of God will remain unfulfilled—for nothing is impossible for Him—can also be formulated in this way: nothing is impossible with God. In fact, the nuance of the Greek text—with, either nearly either next to– illuminates his closeness to humanity. It is for human beings, or for human beings, when they are close to God and freely adhere to Him, that nothing is impossible.
"Nothing is impossible for God"
How can we put this word of life into practice? First of all, by believing with great confidence that God can act even within and beyond our limitations and weaknesses, as well as in the darkest conditions of life.
This was the experience of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who, during the confinement that would lead to his execution, wrote: "We must immerse ourselves again and again in the living, speaking, acting, suffering, and dying of Jesus in order to recognize what God promises and fulfills. It is true […] that for us nothing is impossible, because nothing is impossible for God; […] it is true that we must not expect anything and yet we can ask for everything; it is true that in suffering our joy is hidden and in death our life… To all this, God said Yeah and amen in Christ. This Yeah and this amen They are the firm ground on which we stand.[1].
"Nothing is impossible for God"
When we try to overcome the apparent "impossibility" of our inadequacy to achieve the "possibility" of a coherent life, the community dimension plays a decisive role. It develops where the disciples live among themselves the new commandment of Jesus and thus allow themselves to be inhabited, each one and all together, by the power of the risen Christ.
In 1948, Chiara Lubich wrote to a group of young religious: "And onward! Not with our own miserable and weak strength, but with the omnipotence of Unity. I have seen, I have felt, that God among us accomplishes the impossible: the miracle! If we remain faithful to our motto [...] the world will see Unity and, with it, the fullness of the Kingdom of God."[2].
Years ago, when I was in Africa, I often met young people who wanted to live as Christians, and they told me about the many difficulties they encountered every day in their environment in remaining faithful to the commitments of their faith and the teachings of the Gospel. We would talk about it for hours, and in the end they always came to the same conclusion: "Alone it is impossible, but together we can." Jesus himself guarantees this when he promises: "Where two or three are gathered in my name (in my love), there am I in their midst."Mt 18, 20). And with him everything is possible.
August Parody Reyes and the Word of Life team
[1] D. Bonhoeffer, Resistance and resistance, San Paolo, Cinisello Balsamo 1988, p. 474. Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran theologian and pastor, a protagonist of the resistance to Nazism.
[2] C. Lubich, First Love: Letters from the Beginnings (1943-1949), Ciudad Nueva, Madrid 2018, 180.
