My dear parishioners,
Peace! The Catechism of the Catholic Church highlights the “prayer of the rosary” as a popular substitute for the Liturgy of the Hours in the Western Church (§ 2678). In praying the rosary we “meditate on the mysteries of Christ” engaging our “thought, imagination, emotion, and desire” leading not only to “knowledge of the love of the Lord Jesus” but “union with Him” (§ 2708). In fact the rosary of the Blessed Virgin Mary is an “epitome of the whole Gospel” and is also an expression of “devotion to the Virgin Mary” (§ 971). Here we consider the first of Joyful Mysteries, the Annunciation.
Liturgically Mother Church celebrates the Annunciation each year on the 25 of March, nine months before Christmas (25 December). Sacred Scripture records the Annunciation in Luke 1:26-38. The Annunciation is one of the feasts of the Incarnation, when by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Word became flesh (John 1:14) in the immaculate womb of our Lady who had freely given her consent to God’s plan for our salvation.
The first third of the Hail Mary prayer comes from this encounter between Our Lady and the Archangel Gabriel: “Hail full of grace.” In telling Our Lady that she is full of grace the Archangel reminds us that like any other vessel which is full, that there was “no more room” for grace in her. Saints have recognized in this angelic utterance hints of the Blessed Mother’s having been conceived without any stain of Original Sin, her Immaculate Conception. If Mary had been sullied by Original Sin, which we inherit with our human nature, she would not have been that pure dwelling place for the Lord’s first nine months of His human life. The preventative and preserving graces which the Lord showered upon His Mother at the moment of her conception was a preparation for His coming and for the redemption He would work out on Calvary where He offered His own flesh and blood which He received from her.
While the Blessed Mother is directly related to so many of the mysteries of her rosary, the Archangel Gabriel makes his only appearance here. In Sacred Scripture, however, Gabriel is present in Daniel 8:16; 9:21, explaining the vision of the ram and the he goat; as one of the chief angels in Enoch 9, 20, 40; the annunciation to Zachariah concerning the birth of Saint John the Baptist Luke 1:19.
The Annunciation took place in the small town of Nazareth in the mountains of Galilee North East of Jerusalem. Mary accepted God’s plan and message. So should we. Gabriel faithfully announced God’s plan and message. So should we. The Lord humbled Himself to become like us in all things but sin, assuming our human nature in order to redeem us (cf. Philippians 2:8; Hebrews 4:15). The fruit of the mystery of the Annunciation is humility. Through the intercession of Our Lady and Saint Gabriel may we grow in humility, mirroring more and more Christ the Lord.