“Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.”

 Mary was perplexed. She was confused, bewildered, frightened. She was thunderstruck, gobsmacked, utterly flabbergasted. She was troubled. She was shocked. She was amazed.

For all of its beauty, I am not sure that our language is sufficient to sum up in one word the reactions of a young girl who is greeted, out of the blue, by a full-on archangel on a mission from God.

Then, the angel dropped the other shoe.

 “Do not be afraid, Mary: You are going to have a baby.”

To be continued …