DAILY REFLECTION

Liturgical readings are available here.

The feast of the Annunciation should be a joyful moment: we are only nine months from Christmas!

When Mary learns from the angel, she will become Mother of God, it is a mystery that surpasses all human ability to understand. Nevertheless, the liturgy invites us to ponder the working of God in this world with the goal of drawing us to himself.

The Letter to the Hebrews talks about Christ and describes him in his humanity: a body you prepared for me; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.  Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.” Jesus is presented here in his bodily existence, living on the earth and still intimately united with the Father.

Mary, in the moment of the annunciation, when she learns she will conceive a son and become mother, exemplifies what it means to be fully human and yet being fully determined by the divine. In this stressful moment, she has no time to reflect; she is in the spotlight and must act. Still, her decision and her answer are not impulsive and unreflected. She is based upon her lifelong relationship with and total dedication to God. These allow her to give the answer and follow through.

We never know what challenges the life will bring. We do not know what tests we will be facing today. But Mary shows us obedience and trust based not on impulses, but on a lifelong relationship.