Isaiah 7:10:14, 8:10, Hebrews 5:7-9, Psalm 40:7-11, Luke 1:26-38

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Isaiah 7:10:14, 8:10, Hebrews 5:7-9, Psalm 40:7-11, 

Luke 1:26-38

Isaiah 7:10:14, 8:10

My Beloved, Ahaz was hell bent on doing what he desired making a pretense of piety, his pompous response to the prophet who tells him to ask God for a sign is, "I will not test the Lord." In fact God wants us to seek His inspiration and guidance in all things. He wants to be intimately involved in our human lives. 

The prophet tells Ahaz that despite his failure to follow God's will God will provide a king, a descendant of David. This is the prophecy that will find its fulfillment when the Angel Gabriel reveals God's plan of salvation to a Virgin who will bear a Son who will be named Emmanuel. In Chapter 8:10 God promises that no matter what heinous plans the enemies of His people may devise they will be thwarted for God our God who is with us will not permit them to succeed.

Hebrews 5:7-9

My Beloved, perfect obedience carried out in humility and love is the only way to be acceptable and pleasing to God. In this is eternal life as You Yourself have shown us, although You were God You became incarnate of the Virgin Mary taking upon Yourself our human condition in order to reveal to us the immeasurable love of God. 

Obedience and the sacrifice of Your life redeemed the world and God has now seated You on the throne at His right desiring that You receive all glory, honor and power, making all creatures subject to Your rule. I too can live in You and with You forever if I am meek and humble of heart.

Psalm 40:7-11

My Beloved, You made it possible for God to establish His Kingdom on earth. You make known to us all that God desired us to know about Himself and most especially about His nature which is love.

Every word, thought and deed must be inspired and impelled by love only then will we be pleasing to God. Our sacrifices are worthless if our will is not conformed to the will of God. We are called to witness God's love to those we encounter praising God and giving Him all the glory for all the good things He gives us, the greatest being Yourself in the Sacrament of Love, the Eucharist.

Luke 1:26-38

My Beloved, there are very few verses in the Gospels that tell us about Your Mother, the Virgin Mary and yet the short simple phrases are seeds which pack within them an inexhaustible treasure. The more we allow these seeds to germinate and grow the more fruitful and abundant is the yield in insight, inspiration, wisdom and grace.

God's Messenger the Angel Gabriel makes brief visits in Scripture to reveal something important that God wants to convey to His people. The whole of the Old testament reveals how God prepares His people and through them the world for His greatest Gift. Through Him the infinite void between God and man created by sin would be bridged. 

In the little town of Nazareth is a young virgin on the threshold of womanhood, she is betrothed to a man named Joseph who although a carpenter belongs to the illustrious line of King David. His lineage is impeccable and unknown to all but God, the woman who will be his bride surpasses every human being that ever lived in spiritual beauty and grace. No living creature mirrored God so incandescently as this daughter of God. So full of sweetness and humility was she and so unaware of her perfect goodness that when the Angel greeted her saying, "Hail full of grace the Lord is with you" she was troubled by the extravagance of the greeting  and wondered what it could possibly mean. The Angel tells her not to be afraid before revealing the role God desired her to play in His plan of salvation. 

The Angel too was awestruck for he recognized how precious this creature on whom God had lavished every conceivable grace and virtue was. Aware of her great humility he very gently reveals to her what God was asking of her, "You shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule over the people of Jacob forever and his reign shall have no end.” She asked the obvious question, "How can this be if I am a virgin?” The Angel then tells her that she was to be espoused to the Holy Spirit and the power of God Himself would overshadow her, in that divine betrothal, the Son of God would be conceived becoming also the Son of Man and the Son of Mary.

Another wonderful piece of good news was conveyed to her. Her old and barren cousin Elizabeth had conceived a child and was already in her sixth month for as the Angel said, nothing is impossible for God. And Mary said what every child of God must always say, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.”