In his work “The Elephant’s Child,” Rudyard Kipling wrote the following words: “I keep six honest serving-men—they taught me all I knew; their names are What and Why and When, and How and Where and Who.” Kipling knew the value of asking consistently meaningful, fundamental questions. A half century later, IBM chairman Thomas Watson said, “The ability to ask the right question is more than half the battle of finding the right answer.” Everyone asks questions, but the most wise and insightful people consistently ask the right ones. Confronted by the new and unexpected, getting to basics can be a challenge.

No situation imaginable merited a greater need for good questions than the inimitable exchange recorded by St. Luke in the first chapter of his Gospel, a remarkable conversation involving the archangel Gabriel and the mother of our Savior. Six months into her relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the Virgin Mary was visited by Gabriel about a child of her own. “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, ‘Hail favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ ”

Gabriel’s stunning announcement invited many questions, any of them appropriate. “Why me?” “Why has someone else chosen the name of my child?” “Why the name Jesus?” “Are you telling me that I’ll give birth to a king?” “I’m not royalty; how could any child of mine inherit the throne of Israel?” “And, how can anyone rule forever?” “What kingdom lasts forever?” Instead, Mary asked a much more fundamental question, one that echoes from the Immaculate Conception through the Incarnation to the present day. “Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?’ ” Great question. Perfect question. “How can I have a child, whatever his name, whatever his future role in life, if I’m a virgin, if I’ve had no relations with a man?” “And the angel said to her in reply, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.’ ” “ ‘For nothing will be impossible for God.’ ”

 Completely humbled, Mary replied, “ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’ ” Birth is common, but every child—unborn and newborn, is unique and precious. Yet, Gabriel’s news—a king born to a virgin, the Immaculate Conception, is miraculous. The Good News. The miracle of Christmas. The mystery planned from the beginning of time: a spotless Lamb, born to a virgin, has come. He is the Son of God, and of that there is no question.