Readings:
Isaiah 7: 10-14
Luke 1: 26-38
"Rejoice, O highly
favored! The Lord is with you.”
Our gospel this morning is
so familiar. It is the annunciation story, which always occupies a rightful
place in every catholic piety and religiosity. Any liturgical reenactment or
even a simple recollection of Christ's life is incomplete without the account
of the annunciation.
1. The "real
action" of the mystery of the Incarnation begins when the Archangel
Gabriel greets the lowly servant Mary. The
greetings behold the special role of Mary in our salvation history. And with
Mary's response, the advent dialogue begins.
a. “Rejoice, O highly
favored! "This phrase sets us back to the Old Testament salutation to
Israel, the daughter of Zion (cf Zeph 3:14-15;
Joel 2: 21; Zech 9-9). In all these three
Old Testament accounts, Israel is exalted to rejoice for one similar reason:
the Lord is in their midst and thus is inaugurated the reign of the Messianic
kingdom.
But this time, this phrase is no mere salutation, but a vocation,
a calling. And Mary is called to be that Daughter of Zion, not only in
the sense of her personification of Israel, but in the sense that she is to be
the very bearer of the Messiah who is to come. The angel does not address Mary
by name. Instead, he calls her highly
favored (kexapitouene) or full of grace.
b. "The Lord is with you.” This is
the reason why Mary must rejoice and why
Mary is so highly favored (or fall of grace). The Lord is with Mary. She shall
inaugurate the Messianic era by giving birth to the Messiah, to the Son of God. Thus, Mary is to be the mother of
God. No grace is then much fuller than this. God, the source of grace and in
fact grace himself, is with arid in Mary not only figuratively but also literally
and personally. God-in-person is in the
person of Mary. He is in Mary's womb. In Mary's womb, divinity is humanized; in
Mary's womb, humanity is divinized. So, what
other grace can ever be greater and fuller than this?
He who does not acknowledge this simple truth and
rejects the solitary role of Mary also
rejects the divine plan that salvation must be this
way. And by rejecting this divine plan, he
rejects too the one who authors it. But he,
who accepts it just the way it is, not only accepts it as a divine salvific plan but also submits to the
intention and will of the one who plans it.
c. "I
am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto
me according to your word." Mary is
the first one to accept it and submit to the imperatives it all entails, By
Mary's fiat, the divine plan is in no way being
imposed. But it is in no way being altered, either. By Mary’s response, the advent message becomes an advent
dialogue. So, when the time finally comes for the eternal God to be
born in human time, Mary becomes the
"host" of that first Christmas which ever happened in history. And surely, the holy child finds
security and comfort as he makes his
first Christmas at the loving arms of his mother.
2. The annunciation narrative, therefore, teaches
us that Christianity is, among others,
fundamentally a religion of joy. And the same annunciation narrative outlines the reasons why. First, because of
the Lord's real presence in us. He is with us
personally. If real joy consists in man’s
possession of grace, then man has no more to ask for. Jesus, the Emmanuel, the God-with-us, is indeed with us. He is the
fullness of grace, and so we have all the
reason to rejoice and be glad. Second, because
God's plan is not in vain. Mary, who stands before, humanity responds to it perfectly well. She is the New Eve
who gives hope and meaning to man's existence as a child of God. Unlike Eve who
disdains God's will and rejects paradise by disobedience, Mary now gives
herself totally to God as his lowly servant.
Amidst the greatness of the mystery of the
Incarnation, which she herself could hardly understand, her fiat becomes the undying example of a mortal's
complete submission to his Maker.
The message of the annunciation becomes even
clearer. Whereas Mary is able to give her uncompromising fiat because
she on the first place is full of grace, she at the same time becomes
worthy of that fullness of grace because of
that same fiat, which she assures the angel. Ergo, her role is
irreplaceable. Whatever happens, no one can ever take away the rightful place
of Mary from our Catholic piety and religiosity. If Jesus finds his place in Mary, Mary must then find her
place in us.