On the day when we are exactly nine months away from Christmas, today’s Feast should be , in a way, on a par with Christmas. From one point of view, it is an even greater occasion than Christmas. The Christ Child would not have been born if He had not first been conceived, right?
It was at the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel literally announced the Good News to Mary, that the Incarnation began to become a reality. It was at this moment, in the midst of this announcement, that “the Word was made flesh and lived among us.” Therefore, today is a special day of praise and thanksgiving for all of us.
For reflection: At the very end of His earthly life, the last words of Jesus (from the Cross) were: “It is finished.” Today’s celebration reminds us that the first words uttered, at the beginning of His earthly life, were from His Mother: “Let it be done to me as you say.” And with that, it all began!
Let us pray. “O Lord our God, the Virgin Mary heard with faith that the Christ was to be born among us and for our sake by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit. Lovingly, she said ‘yes’ and she bore Him in her immaculate womb, so that the promises to the children of Israel might come about and the hope of nations be might be accomplished beyond all telling. Hear us this day for we place before you our every prayerful need and our thanksgiving, too, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
