The Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation and at the same time the vocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was her faithful response to the angel’s message that began the work of Redemption.
Pope St. John Paul II said “we give thanks to God through His Mother, because Mary, as God’s collaborator in giving human nature to His eternal Son, was the instrument that linked Jesus with the whole of humanity.”
The Vatican II document Gaudium et Spes speaks of the significance of the Incarnation:
“For by His Incarnation, the Son of God has united Himself in some fashion with every person. He worked with human hands, He thought with a human mind, acted by human choice, and loved with a human heart. Born of the Virgin Mary, He has truly been made one of us, like us in all things but sin.” (N. 22)
Regarding the vocation of the Blessed Virgin Mary… Fr. Fernandez writes “vocation is not the choice we make for ourselves so much as that which God makes for us through the thousand and one events in which we are involved. We need to know how to interpret these circumstances with faith, and with a heart that is at once pure and upright.” Think about the words of Jesus “You did not choose me but I chose you…” John 15, 16
We can be sure that it will please God very much if we thank Him today for the many times He has given us light by which to see the path along which He is calling us. We should thank Him for His most Holy Mother who corresponded so faithfully to what God asked of her.
Mary, mother of the Redeemer, pray for us and the whole world. –
Fr. Galvon
