Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."  Then the angel departed from her.

Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord."

In order to do God's Will we must know who we are and what we are about.  Mary was able to give her fiat to God because she was already firmly established within herself as God's handmaiden.  That was her identity, it was who she was, so she answered by saying first, not "let it be with me" but "I am God's handmaiden."

It is hard for us to accept and do God's will without first having a very deep sense of who we are as his servants and disciples.  Our proud worldly selves are seized with fright and terrified at God's requests when they seem confusing and harsh.  But if we, like Mary, can respond first by stating with the deepest faith and conviction who we are - God's servants with whom he can do as he pleases - then we, like Mary, are able to reply "let it be with me according to your word."

Perhaps before the angel can be sent to us we have to be reminded, sometimes harshly, of who we are.