Today we rejoice at His coming among us
Reflections on the readings for the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25, 2020): IS 7:10-14;8:10; PS 40:7-8,8-9,10,11; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38
MISSIO offers “Preaching Mission,” as a homily help, providing connections to mission from the readings of Sundays, Feast Days and Holy Days.
The Gospel of Luke recounts the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary...
On this beautiful solemnity, we venerate two sacred events: the Annunciation of the coming of our Lord to His people that was made to the Blessed Virgin Mary by God’s messenger, and the Incarnation of the Son of God as a human being in the womb of Mary, His mother. The Gospel of Luke recounts the visit of the angel Gabriel to Mary, a young woman still in her early teens who lived in the insignificant Galilean town of Nazareth. Out of her deep faith and out of her own free will, Mary agreed to all God asked of her. Like all devout Jews, she knew about the promised Messiah. But she could never have grasped all that He would mean to His people and to the whole world – or what it would mean for her to become His mother. Still, the Holy Virgin, offered herself to do and to be all that Almighty God asked of her, body and soul. “Listen, O house of David!… Therefore the Lord Himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with Child, and bear a Son, and shall name Him Emmanuel, which means ‘God is with us!’” (Isaiah 7:13-14; 8:10).
The world changed forever in that moment through God’s eternal plan for the salvation of His beloved people. Even though the human race had turned away from the Eternal Father, His Son was willingly formed within the body of Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. The dedicated daughter of God whom He had chosen to be conceived without sin would be the mother of our Savior and of all the world. Just as she humbly let God’s will be done to her and through her, we, too, can say, “Yes!” to Him today and every day. We can freely agree to do and to be all that He asks of us in service to His Kingdom.
