The Annunciation

 

 Lk 1:26-38

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

²⁶ In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷ to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. ³¹ You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³ and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

³⁴ “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

³⁵ The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶ Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. ³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

For anyone  who has devotion to Mary, and especially for Marists, this Gospel passage is the cornerstone of our spirituality:  to be open to God's plan and to willingly say YES to it as Mary did. Trust, love, faith  surrender all play a part in the FIAT of Mary, and in ours. Did Mary know all that her submission to God's will entailed for her? Did she see herself bidding farewell to her carpenter Son when he began his mission, or when she stood beneath his dying body on the cross, or beholding his risen body after his resurrection? Did she see herself still mothering his Body, the Church, and caring for each of us as her own? All were included in her faith-filled YES. She did not hold back and stands forever a model for us.

Bro. Rene

Dear Mary, as you accepted God's will so totally, help us to do the same. Amen. .