Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25th

 

The Feast of the Annunciation we celebrate today calls us to reflect on a central mystery of our faith, namely, the Incarnation. There is the traditional practice of praying the Angelus, pausing three times a day to recall this turning point in salvation history when “the Word through whom all things were made,” when “the Word who was in the beginning with God and who was God,” “became flesh and dwelt among us.”

And why did God’s Son do this? So that what he took on might be redeemed. He came to share in our human nature that we might share in his divine nature. God can save the world however he chooses, but what method did he chose? He chose the flesh, our humanity, our flesh and blood. As one Ancient Christian writer put it: “The flesh is the hinge of salvation.” Obedient to his heavenly Father, Jesus chose to save us by taking on our flesh, and by offering himself upon the cross, suffering in his flesh. Thus, he turned “the cause of our downfall into the means of our salvation.”

As Christians, we firmly believe that God is not merely an idea or a concept, but he has come to dwell among us; he has taken flesh through the womb of the Virgin Mary. This feast calls us to remember the sacredness of being people of flesh and blood. Indeed, the human person is not merely a spiritual being, but a unity of body and soul.

But today we recall this beautiful mystery of our faith: The Word became flesh and dwells among us, and the flesh is the hinge of salvation. It is not in spite of our bodily limits that God saves us and saves the world, but it is exactly through them that he carries out his saving work.

We matter, every part of us matters, every part of us is sacred, not just our soul but also our body. And it is through our body, even in our weakness, that God is at work for the salvation of the world. Indeed, each of us has the capacity to offer with Jesus all our aches and pains, all our limitations and struggles, all our victories and all our endurance, for our salvation and that of the whole world.

I would like to begin praying the Angelus before weekday Masses. The Angelus was created by St. Bonaventure, who ordered that it be prayed three times a day in all the Franciscan monasteries and then soon parishes also began to pray the Angelus, at morning, noon and evening. He wanted to remind everyone, that Jesus came down from heaven in the womb of Mary and that it was a most remarkable event, that raised our human nature to great dignity. It reminds us that our body is sacred. It’s holy. It reminds us that God sent His only Son to save us, and He so, by taking upon our human nature that would be the instrument of salvation on the Cross. During the Creed, today and on Christmas, we are required to kneel, rather than bow at the words, “For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.”

In Little River, we have the joy of having three sirens everyday, just after each siren would be a great time to remember the incarnation of Jesus.

And let us thank the Virgin Mary, for Her fiat, Her Yes, when She said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me, according to thy word.”, which resulted in Jesus coming down from heaven into Her Immaculate womb.