Day Twenty-Four - The Annunciation

Today's Reflection
by Hannah Blosser

Many centuries ago, long before our time, there was a joke among the Jewish people: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Nazareth was a town in the province of Galilee, and its reputation may have come from the fact that its natives spoke a rougher form of dialect than others in Judea. Despite this, Nazareth was a fairly prominent town, and even boasted its own synagogue. But that was not the greatest thing that came out of Nazareth. This town of Galilee was the home of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

Mary was born and raised in Nazareth, and lived with her parents, Anne and Joachim. When she was in her early teens, she was betrothed to Joseph, a Nazarene carpenter. One day, when Mary was still living in her parents’ home, an angel appeared to her. He appeared in a bright light, which startled the young girl, but he greeted her with the reassuring words, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Mary was still shocked, and her amazement increased when the angel continued, “Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High….” We can imagine how much this must have confused Mary, a humble girl who had consecrated herself entirely to God. Why would God choose her, of all women, to bear His Son? She asked the angel, Gabriel, how this would come to pass; he explained that the Holy Ghost would overshadow her, and she would conceive and bear Our Lord. Despite the trials she knew she would have to endure because of it, Mary, in humble obedience to the Will of God, consented: “Be it done to me according to thy word.”

This moment is the most important in salvation history. This moment of Mary’s “yes” to God’s Will marks the moment of the Incarnation of Christ. Our Lord, who created us, took on our flesh, our humanity, in order to save us from sin; and he took this humanity from the most humble  and pure of all creatures, the Blessed Virgin. Ponder that fact for a moment: God, the Creator and Author of all life, willed to come to earth and become human in order that He might die on the cross for our sake.

This is the greatest act of love ever. St. Thomas Aquinas discusses the beauty of this powerful act of God in his work, Summa Contra Gentiles. He states that as humans, we constantly desire true happiness, and if we use our reason to consider this desire, we realize that nothing on earth can satisfy it. Therefore, something greater than the finite things of earth must be the answer to our desire: God. But, being the fallen creatures we are, we need something that will direct us to God, that will raise our hearts and minds higher. Aquinas states that, “Nothing so induces us to love one as the experience of another’s love for us,” and that “it is proper to unite the lover with the beloved so far as possible.” So, God's answer to our greatest desires was to unite Himself to our humanity in the person of Jesus. We desire perfect goodness, truth, and beauty. God is goodness, truth, and beauty, and in the act of the Incarnation, He united Himself to us in our humanity.

Prayer for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart:
As the Holy Father consecrates Russia and Ukraine to Our Lady's Immaculate Heart, let us unite our prayers with his.

O Immaculate Heart of Mary, you are the holy Mother of God and our tender Mother. Look upon the distress in which the Church and the whole of humanity are living because of the spread of materialism and the persecution of the Church. In Fatima, you warned against these errors, as you spoke about the errors of Russia. You are the Mediatrix of all graces. Implore your Divine Son to grant this special grace for the Pope: that he might consecrate Russia to your Immaculate Heart, so that Russia will be converted, a period of peace will be granted to the world, and your Immaculate Heart will triumph, through an authentic renewal of the Church in the splendor of the purity of the Catholic Faith, of the sacredness of Divine worship and of the holiness of the Christian life. O Queen of the Holy Rosary and our sweet Mother, turn your merciful eyes to us and graciously hear this our trusting prayer. Amen.
+ Athanasius Schneider, Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese of Saint Mary in Astana