Friday, March 25, 2022

 SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD

 (Isaiah 7:10-14.8:10; Hebrews 10:4-10; Luke 1:26-38)

 The unlikely story of the “Christmas truce of 1914” has been verified by accounts sent home by the soldiers involved.  It happened that as the First World War became a miserable standoff in the trenches, the Germans offered the British a resolution to stop the fighting on Christmas Day.  They sent the message along with a chocolate cake.  The British accepted the offer with a gift of tobacco for the German troops.  Today we take a similar day off in Lent to celebrate the beginnings of Jesus Christ.

 It is exactly nine months before Christmas.  Figuring that Jesus had a normal gestation, the Church has consecrated today as the day of his conception.  It proclaims the gospel of Mary’s acceptance of God’s offer to be the mother of His Son.  That Son, Jesus, will fulfill God’s ancient promise to Israel of a king who will rule forever.

 We should not hesitate to have a glass of wine today or a bar of chocolate.  We do not have to abstain from meat today either.  But beyond breaking our Lenten customs, we do well to relate the significance of this day to our Lenten journey.  God shared with humans His Son who showed us the Father’s love.  Being enmeshed in sin, we crucified the Son for his goodness.  But the cross on which he died became the source of our redemption.  The story unfolds in three weeks in our celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

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