Solemnity of the Feast of the Annunciation, March 26, 2007

Scripture: Isaiah 7:10-14. Psalm 40:7-11. Hebrews 10:4-10. (John 1:14).
Luke 1:26-38. Lectionary # 545

In the Old and New Testaments there are Annunciation patterns. The
Annunciation to Mary has been studied in the framework and context of such
presentations of a messenger sent by God to a person who is called to a
special vocation and mission. Perhaps, for Christians, the Annunciation to
Mary is the classic narrative for an Annunciation. It contains most of the
elements present in the other narratives of this genre and is the most
important story in the life of Mary. It is both a vocation narrative as
well as an annunciation. It seems that Mary is the only one called who
gives such a tremendous "Yes" to the call of God in her vocal response to
the Angel Gabriel, the key messenger of God for important missions. Her
yes is singular, unique in her ability to risk saying it, and totally bound
up with her faith of the heart as one of the 'Anawim or poor of Yahweh. By
giving her "fiat" (which means "yes, let it be done") she cooperates with
God's plan for the flow of the history of salvation. In a sense we are in
the middle of time or salvation history with the announcement to Mary and
the future conception and birth of Jesus her son. The text used before the
Gospel is the great text of John 1:14: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us." God through the birth of Jesus manifests humanity the greatest
miracle of all times for us Christians. Luke is writing for believers who
already knew about Jesus and his resurrection. He therefore uses titles
applied to the son to be born of Mary which are already seen in the light
of the Resurrection of Jesus as Lord. Mary had to grow into understanding
these titles just as we grow in our faith and our understanding of it. Our
Psalm response for today is similar to Mary's "yes" for it says, "Here I
am, Lord, I come to do your will." For me as a Marian scholar, the
Annunciation speaks to each one of us whether we be single, married, or
vowed by a religious commitment as priest, brother, or sister. We can
develop our marian faith response by embracing our vocation as Mary did.
She mirrors these different states of life if you do a bit of contemplative
reflection upon the text. We do have the master portrait painter Luke
giving us this earliest insight into Mary who is just becoming a young
mature woman. She is virgin and will become the mother of the Messiah.
Through the Annunciation her whole life span--possibly seventy-two years--
is given meaning. As a youthful virgin whe answers her call and begins her
vocation to bring Jesus to the world and to begin the human realization of
salvation history into a flesh and blood person. Because of her "yes" this
world of ours has never been the same. We are grateful that she is as
Wordsworth says, " our nature's solitary boast." Amen.