Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
To the longing of the human heart in Galilee - in Nazareth - looking for the Savior of the world - enters God's messenger. It is Angel Gabriel. His greeting addressed to Mary it is an expression of heaven's great respect for the image of God who is man. Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women. Man, created in the image and likeness of God, must always be united to his Creator. The most beautiful union took place in the Immaculate. She was without the stigma of original sin, so the Archangel's greeting is unique. Extraordinary grace entails an extraordinary mission.
Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God. God wants the good and happiness for man - you do not need to fear Him. While listening to the Archangel's proclamation, Mary learns that her heart's longings will come true - the Savior of the world will come, and she will be His Mother. How will it happen? - asks the Blessed Virgin Mary. She receives the answer from the Archangel: The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. The response to the proclamation of God's messenger is Mary's humble confession: Here I am, the handmaid of the Lord. She is glad that God decided to free man from bondage to sin and humiliation. The joy in Mary's heart, brought from God, will be brought to Elizabeth her relative in need. The Holy Spirit sanctified the womb of the Virgin Mary and the Word becomes Flesh. “On the liturgical feast of the Annunciation, we went back in a sense to the sources of the mystery of faith and knelt in the grotto of the Annunciation in Nazareth where, in Mary's womb, "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1: 14). There, reflected in the Virgin's "fiat", one can hear in silent adoration God's loving "yes" to man, the amen of the eternal Son, who opens the path of salvation to every human being. There, in the reciprocal self-giving of Christ and Mary, are the hinges of every "holy door". There, where God became man, man rediscovers his dignity and high calling.” (Saint John Paul II, General Audience, March 29, 2000)
Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
When we meditated the mystery of the Annunciation, we must sometimes wonder why God chose this young woman specifically at this time in world history to carry out such an extraordinary plan? No matter how long we reflect on this mystery, we will probably come to a similar conclusion as Ruth Rees in her book "The Rosary in Time and Space" The author writes: “The fact remains that, for reasons beyond our earthly ability to know, this particular moment chosen by God for the Annunciation was unique. Some divine conjunction of circumstances on Earth, and perhaps in the universe, has come together to reveal the right person in the right time and space: Mary of Nazareth."
When agreeing to such an answer, we reflect on Mary's reaction, how could she have felt then? Saint Luke writes that Mary "became confused" at the Angel Gabriel's greeting. I think she "got confused". Perhaps a more accurate term would be "she was in shock." Certainly, after hearing the promise, there was silence, a silence during which all heaven hung over Mary's lips waiting for her answer, a silence in which the fate of the world was decided. Certainly, through the heart and mind of Mary, many doubts and question marks passed through her heart and mind at a rapid pace, however, being aware that it was all heaven, that God Himself was waiting for her answer, she rejected all fears and gave the most beautiful answer: "Here I am, the Handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to Your Word”, thus accepting her key role in the history of salvation.
Mary, although "full of grace" did not have full knowledge, she still a human, she was a very young and simple girl, so at the moment of her "fiat" she did not understand what was happening, she knew that she was jumping into the abyss, entering the secret which infinitely exceeded her, but accepted it, trusting that "God knows what he is doing." The angel's response that "God's power would overshadow her" did not explain her much at first, but she believed that God would gradually illuminate the stages and elements of his promise, that her understanding would come with time, through cooperation with grace, and so it was.
But first, she had to carry all these things in her heart for a long time and trust, trust, trust. Mary realizes that everything that happens to her comes from outside and is a gift of God, that it happens at his initiative and that it will remain so, and she can do no more than agree to repeat her fiat no matter what the circumstances are.
Wilfried Stinissen aptly describes the relationship between God's action and human action, saying: “It does not happen that God makes 80% and man does his 20%. No, God makes 100% and man 100%, but each in his own way. God is the author of the work, and man allows it. The human part is consent". And it was Mary, by her consent, by agreeing to God's plan, she had already done all the work, that 100% on the part of human, and that is why she has achieved such a great exaltation. She gave God only that much, but so much! She gave him everything that he needs from man.
When exploring Mary's first joy, we see that it was not only joy itself, but rather it was thoroughly paschal joy from the beginning. The whole situation in which Mary found herself was not only sublime but also truly dramatic. This is evidenced by the tension that must have arisen between Mary and Joseph, whom she sincerely loved. How could she explain to him that "the child conceived in her is of God", that she is not a public sinner but a saint, and that behind her growing pregnancy there is not a stranger man but the Holy Spirit?
She understood the spiritual torment of Joseph and sincerely sympathized with him, but for now she could not help him, she felt that she could not yet reveal the truth to him, because he would not understand it, so that the initiative again belonged to God. Therefore, she fervently asked God for a special light for Joseph and he received it. When we are looking at the Annunciation, we are already a bit used to this event. In our tradition, it has a slightly idyllic atmosphere, devoid of the tension that must have accompanied the young girl from Nazareth. What did Mary really experience? (...) Despite the many questions she carries in her heart, she continues to trust in God. She does not act, believing that God Himself will fulfill his promise. She does not try to explain to Joseph that she is expecting a Son but leaves this matter to God.
God sends an angel to Mary, but it is not known why He is "late" with a message for Joseph. We know that Joseph wanted to send her away so as not to dishonor her. What a terrible drama must have unfolded between them. Why did God allow this to happen?
After all, he could send an angel to Joseph at the same time and prevent him from suffering. But God wanted their love to be tested through suffering, that they would die to bear fruit.
Now let us see how Mary reacted to God's promise. The angel says: behold, you will conceive and bear a son. We are already used to the fact that Mary conceived as virgin. But remember that this is not normal! Mary, however, did not doubt. She did not say to the Angel: “Listen, this is impossible. I am not having intercourse with any man; God knows we have given up the sex with Joseph". Mary did not move to action either: she did not decide that they would begin their intercourse. She accepted the announcement with faith. And only then did she ask: How will this happen? In her faith, she took a passive attitude, but expected listening to God's will. She did not take any external action, but a great struggle for fidelity took place within Her. Mary's external passivity has gone even further! She did not go to explain to Joseph what was happening to her. She did not go to justify herself: “I have the Messiah in my womb. God made it! " She left the action to God, who "had" to speak to Joseph personally. She pondered everything in her heart. It was the heroism of faith! (...)
Internally, Mary is doing the work of a colossus, she moves mountains. Let us honor Mary by imitating her attitude towards the Word of God, towards the promise. True Marian piety is first and foremost an imitation of Mary's faith. Faith that is beyond emotions, feelings (...), which exceeds the possibilities of reason and human logic, faith that is expressed through faithfulness and an expectation, faith full of prayerful tension. Jesus hanging on the cross gives us the answer: “Take Mary to you. Make her the mother of your faith. She can take you into her womb and teach you to live the promise. And the Word will become flesh in you".
What if Mary had not believed that the simple girl of Nazareth could be the mother of the Messiah, if Abraham had not believed that in spite of his old age, he would have a son, if Saint Peter had doubted that it was, he who denied the Lord would be a rock for the Church, if Saint Faustina did not believe that even after three years of primary school, she can become a secretary of God himself?
Meditating on Mary's first joy, let us ask her for the grace of faith greater than a grain of mustard seed, faith on measure of her faith, that we may also access promises that cannot be understood or fathomed by human reason, but we will remember that for God nothing is impossible. It is only us who bind his hands with our meanness and sometimes we mourn over these supposedly "unfulfilled" promises, that He still wants to fulfill, only in "his" time and in his own way, always much more beautiful than our narrow vision. If we receive little, it is only because we trust little. The size of miracles and promises in our lives depends on ourselves, on our faith in God, whose generosity has no limits, only we ourselves do not want to draw from it.