And Mary Said "Your Will Be Done"

The Word was made flesh - these profound words from St John sum up what we celebrate in this great Solemnity of the Annunciation. God became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, but he could only do so because of her consent - the Lord did not force her - it was her generous openness to the will of God, her humble love and her desire to follow him in all things which led to her decision. 

In saying yes, Our Lady unraveled the sin of Eve which was one of self-obsessed disobedience. Though she did not see all the consequences of her Fiat, nor all the fruits, Mary trusted in God and in faith surrendered to his will. That is one of the reasons we, the Church, hold Mary in such veneration, why we love her, and why, I hope, we strive to imitate her. 

As the Second Vatican Council reminds us, Mary is a type of the Church, and so the Church, if she is to be the Church and carry out the mission entrusted to her, must also say yes to God's will though she does not know all the consequences or the fruits - she walks in faith with the Word of God as her guide, her light in the darkness. It is incumbent on the whole Church to walk in this light be it the Church in the Vatican City State, or the US or Ireland, or Germany - like Mary she must surrender to the will of God generously.

May the Holy Virgin Mary pray for us all that we may fulfill the role we have to play in the Church, imitating her in her fidelity and generosity; and let us pray for our leaders, that they do will do the same.

Annunciation Day: Day For Life

In the midst of Lent, solemnities are most welcome, and here in Ireland, all in the space of a week and a half, we have three: St Patrick, St Joseph and the Annunciation of the Lord.  One might ask how can a body do any fasting in the middle of Lent with all these feast days popping up? Well that's just the hard task of being Catholic - we fast, we feast and sometimes we feast in the fast; isn't it great?!

Today's solemnity is, after Easter and Christmas, a most momentous one: the feast of the Incarnation of the Lord in the womb of the Virgin Mary. On this day we mark that most mysterious event when the Word was made flesh. This feast is bridged to Christmas and begins, for us Christians, a nine month programme of prayer and reflection on God's becoming man as part of his plan to redeem us.  Today, we might say, a great novena to Our Lady of Expectation may well begin.  There would be no Christmas without the Annunciation. 

This feast brings us to reflect on many things: the fulfillment of God's promise to his people; the willing participation of Our Lady in God's plan of salvation; and of course the wonderful mystery of the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son, the Word, being conceived in a human womb and growing there for nine months before being born.  For this reason we can regard today's feast as a pro-life feast, one which reminds all Christians that they must be pro-life.  To be pro-abortion and Christian is not only contradictory, but almost heretical for to deny that a unique human being exists at the moment of conception is to deny that God became man in the womb of Our Lady at his conception: that at the first stages of life the embryo was not human and not God.  

Today, then, we can celebrate life - the Incarnation of the Lord of life in the womb of Our Lady, and the beauty of life in the womb sanctified by the Word's becoming flesh, transforming humanity by his entering into it.  Let us pray, then, for the cause of life; for the unborn; for expectant mothers; for women contemplating abortion; for women who have aborted their children so they may find reconciliation and healing.

Happy feast day!