Happy Feast of the Annunciation! Today we celebrate that most Glorious Solemnity of the Annunciation, when God sends a messenger to a lowly virgin to "Announce" His plan of Salvation.
This Plan of Salvation is for God Himself, the very Son of God, who is to take on Flesh, to be born of a virgin, in order to undo the fall of Eve and of Adam, to give us a new Eve, and a new Adam to be Conceived in the immaculate womb of that new Eve, a humble young handmaid. Saint Luke tells us in his Gospel..
LUKE 1:26~28 "And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art though among women."
And so begins the incarnation in this way, in humility, in purity and in innocence. The great Angel, who is God's messenger, greats Mary humbly, speaks to her the very words of the Lord God, who sent Gabriel to proclaim the greeting and in so doing, revealing the Lord's plan of Salvation to this holy virgin Mary, who the angel says is "full of Grace" and tells her "The Lord is With You". It is this very angelic Salutation that we repeat, each time we pray the words given to Gabriel to speak unto Mary.
This prayer, comprised of the angel's greeting, is also comprised of of the inspired words of Elizabeth, who when visited by Mary is filled with the Holy Spirit at the sound of her voice and the Holy Spirit prompts Elizabeth to exclaim in a Loud voice in LUKE 1:42~45..."Blessed art though among women, and blessed in the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? for behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed are though that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.
These very words we pray, are not our own words; nor are they words contrived by the Church, but these Sacred words are God's Himself, given to an angel and spoken by Gabriel and by the prompting of the Holy Spirit of God in the woman Elizabeth, it is she who is to bear the Herald of the Messiah, John the Baptist. It is the pregnant Elizabeth, who announces Mary as "Blessed Among all Women", "Full of Grace", and the Mother of the Lord". Blessed is Mary for believing what God would do in her and through her. I dare say, blessed too are those who also believe what God has wrought through Mary and who also call her blessed!
Henceforth, let us, in all generations call her blessed... and let us add,.... "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." Amen.
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