Annunciation Of the Lord

The flutter of a wing, a rustling in the air, a voice, and the future began to begin’

This Saturday (March 25) the Catholic Church celebrates the ‘Annunciation of the Lord’. This feast is a solemnity – one of the most important celebrations of a mystery of faith. It celebrates God’s angel (Gabriel) making God’s most important announcement in the history of the world, the announcement asking Mary to be the mother of Jesus (God in Human form).

Imagine the moment the angel Gabriel approached Mary, a young, lower class village girl with the words… “Greetings favoured one! The Lord is with you. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son… the son of the Most High… His kingdom will have no end”. 

Mary must have been shocked and amazed. She would also have been terrified because she wasn’t yet married to Joseph (Pregnancy outside of wedlock was punishable by death for Jews in those days). But her faith in God and God’s grace gave her the courage to say the greatest words that have ever fallen from human lips: ‘Fiat!’ (“Let it be done to me according to your word.” )[Lk 1:38]

Mary is the link between heaven and earth and is the very first Saint. God created us out of love and for us to be united with Him. God always wants to be closer to us. Because of Mary’s ‘YES’, God came to earth as Jesus to live among us and show us ‘the way’ to Him. We celebrate Christmas only because of Mary’s ‘YES’.

God could have become human in any number of creative ways but chose to enter our world as we all do, by being born as one of us to be close to us and lead by example. In the same way, God exited the world through the door of death, as we all must do. This Church season of Lent and Easter reminds us about Jesus’ life and invitation to follow in His way. Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice in being crucified reminds us of God’s absolute love for us.  His Resurrection and Ascension into heaven remind us that we to are destined for eternal life with God our loving Father.

Mary said YES to God, but also to us. ‘My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed’ (blessed with the amazing honour of being mother to our Lord). Mary was just having an ordinary day, but she was attentive to God’s ongoing presence enough to recognise his voice in the angel Gabriel. And she was faithful and trusting enough to accept His invitation. God invites all of us to share in his life of love and puts before us every day a million different invitations… At St Mary’s, we call them ‘God moments’. We try to follow Mary’s example, by setting aside time every day for quiet prayer and meditation. We try to be more aware of God’s presence when we pray, and in our day. God may have something to say to us too!

O Holy Mother Mary, we ask you to pray for us. That we may be attentive to God’s presence in our lives and His will for us. Amen.