Wedensday, March 25, 2015

SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD

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

The story of the “Christmas truce of 1914” has been verified by accounts sent home by the soldiers.  It happened that as the First World War became a miserable reality for both sides in the trenches, the Germans made an offer to the British 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 story of Mary’s acceptance of God’s offer to be the mother of His Son, Jesus.  He will fulfill God’s ancient promise to Israel of a king who will rule forever with peace and prosperity.

We should not hesitate to have a glass of wine today and perhaps a sweet roll with coffee.  But beyond breaking our fast, we do well to relate the significance of this day to our Lenten journey.  The Son of God became human to proclaim God’s love for the world.  Being enmeshed in sin, humans abused the gift and killed him for the Good News.  That story unfolds next week in our celebration of Jesus’ victory over sin and death.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

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

“What if Mary said “no” to Gabriel?” the proponents of human freedom like to speculate.  “Can anyone resist the efficacy of grace?” defenders of divine authority counter.  In a reflection on Sandro Botticelli’s painting of the Annunciation appearing in America magazine last year, Professor Jerome Miller shows how the artist reconciles these two issues. 

Professor Miller writes that as Gabriel hails Mary, God comes to her not in control of the future but as the future.  At the same time both summoned and attracted, Mary willingly responds favorably to the divine possibilities in the present that this future holds.  In other words, she concedes to the will of God to bear His son so that the world may be freed from sin.  The magnificence is not just in the theology but in Botticelli’s conception of it.  He paints a hunched Gabriel pointing a hand of urgency to the young woman and a curved Mary relating both an awe of and openness to God.

Professor Miller points out that God hails all of us, like Mary, by name and presents us with His future.  Our openness to his word, which is another way of saying the grace in our hearts, shapes our response.  Moved by grace to respond favorably to God’s beckoning, we let go of egotism and respond in love to the needs of others. 

Friday, March 25, 2011

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

(Isaiah 7:10-14.8:10; Hebrews 10:4-11; Luke 1:26-38)

A Catholic pro-life activist had an inspiration. In order to raise funds for the diocesan Respect for Life Office he would organize a banquet. The celebration would take place on March 25, the Solemnity of the Annunciation. His reason for having it today, of course, is that Jesus literally becomes human at the moment of his conception which the Church considers as happening when Mary assents to the angel’s pronouncement.

As important as the Annunciation is to pro-life activities, its deeper significance lies in another realm. In becoming human, God relates to humans in a new way never heard of before or since. He puts Himself in touch with us as one who shares every aspect of our life. We see Him, hear Him, touch Him, and smell Him. To be sure, He is still beyond us but we have incredibly intimate sensations of what He is like. It is like the movie a dozen years ago shot completely from the hospital patient’s perspective. Seeing it, one has a much better idea of what it means to be hospitalized.

As Christmas has turned into a beehive of commercial activity, we may take time today to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation. We want to ponder how Christ’s humanity has affected us personally and how it has changed the world. We will likely come to the realization that we resist it having a very great effect. If so, we want to ask God to open us to His singular offer of everlasting life.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

(Isaiah 7:10-14.8:10; Hebrews 10:4-11; Luke 1:26-38)

The Bible asserts the dignity of all persons by noting that the first humans are created in the image of God. But assuredly human dignity is raised a few notches by the mystery on which we meditate today. Jesus, our Creator whose being we reflect, becomes one of us whose life we are to emulate. We call today’s feast “The Annunciation,” but, as is done in some parts of the world, we can say that it is the Feast of the Incarnation. Today we celebrate the eternal Son of God taking flesh within the womb of the Virgin Mary.

There are myths of gods taking human form in other religions. But what makes Jesus Christ so different is, ironically, his ordinariness. Yes, being virgin-born is certainly unique, and we have marvelous accounts of his power over nature. But there are no fantastic stories of his repelling arrows and slaying armies. Even Jesus’ cures and certainly his standard operation are like those of other Jewish prophets and rabbis. Indeed, in many ways he is just like us.

It is the chain of events at the very end of his life that manifestly separates Jesus from everyone else. He surrenders himself to be humiliated, tortured, and executed even though he is innocent of any crime. Then he is raised from the dead as a validation that his self-sacrifice is neither fatalistic nor quixotic but ordained on High. It demonstrates God’s plan to elevate humans even higher than their exalted status over the rest of creation. Now we can glimpse the reason for our emulating Jesus. Doing so will lead to our sharing in his resurrection from the dead and in his eternal life.