We celebrate today the Annunciation to Mary and the start of her “divine pregnancy.” We typically do this exactly nine months before December 25th, in order to place Christ’s conception nine months before his birth. This year, the Feast has been moved from March 25th to today because Holy Week’s schedule took precedent. Nonetheless, we remember today how the joyful promise of her conceiving the Messiah was announced to Mary, at her home in Nazareth. The Lord sent Gabriel, whose name means “Power of God,” with a message that would launch a new Covenant between our Maker and humankind, based on the union of the divine and human in the person of Jesus Christ.
In one of his homilies, Saint Leo the Great says, “Thus the Son of God enters this lowly world. He comes down from the throne of heaven, yet does not separate Himself from the Father’s glory. He is born in a new condition, by a new birth. He was born in a new condition, for, invisible in His own nature, He became visible in ours. Beyond our grasp, He chose to come within our grasp. Existing before time began, He began to exist at a moment in time. Lord of the universe, He hid His infinite glory and took the nature of a servant.”
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Normalmente, el 25 de marzo es cuando la Iglesia celebra la Solemnidad de la Anunciación del Señor (nueve meses antes de la Navidad). A causa de los eventos de la Semana Santa, celebramos hoy esta Fiesta tan especial.
Cuando, en la ciudad de Nazaret, el ángel del Señor anunció a María: “Vas a concebir y dar a luz un Hijo, y se llamará Hijo del Altísimo, ella respondió: ‘He aquí la esclava del Señor; hágase en mí según tu palabra.’” Y así, llegada la plenitud de los tiempos, el que era antes de los siglos el Unigénito Hijo de Dios, por nosotros y por nuestra salvación, se encarnó, por obra del Espíritu Santo, en el seno de santa María, y se hizo hombre.
Oremos. “Dios nuestro, que quisiste que tu Hijo, al encarnarse en el seno de Santa María, participara de toda nuestra condición humana, concede a quienes lo reconocemos como Dios y hombre verdadero, participar, por medio de la gracia, de su vida divina. Por nuestro Señor Jesucristo. Amén.”
