By Fr Cao Nguyen SJ
Today, the whole Church solemnly celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation which, in the early days, was named the Feast of the Incarnation, Conceptio Christi, or Lady Day. The Feast commemorates God’s entrance into the human world through Jesus and Mary’s willingness to accept God’s command. It expresses the inestimable value God places on human life.
Firstly, that God loved us so much that God chose to become one of us.
Secondly, God became "like us in all things except sin" at the moment of His conception in Mary's womb, not at some later time.
In St Ignatius contemplation of the Incarnation in the 2nd week of the Spiritual Exercises which points to the response: “Let it be done to me according to your will” of the Son and of Mary. In short, the contemplation starts with God looking at the world, then we go to Mary and the angel Gabriel’s announcement to her, and finally, we bring it all back to God.
In Ignatius’ imagination, God looks at the whole world and all it contains with love and with profound concern. God sees how much people suffer by natural disasters, by illnesses, by people robbing one another, killing one another, hoarding scarce resources from one another, even simply forgetting that others exist. God determines to carry out the work of redemption. The Second person of the Trinity – The Son, Jesus – says yes, to become human, to walk among us, and work for human redemption.
God then chose Mary among so many women to carry out this task. Thus, the story is unfolded in todays’ Gospel. We could see her quiet but profound power, faith, and choice. Mary, as a human person, could say yes or no. She chose YES not only this time but all her life. In a beautiful poetic reflection, Denise Levertov writes: “This was the moment no one speaks of, when she could still refuse. A breath unbreathed, Spirit, suspended, waiting.” We know that Mary, in her faith and growing wisdom, said yes. The rest, as they say, is history.
What do we learn from this Feast?
Pope Francis speaks to us of two great lessons from the Virgin Mary.
The first is a lesson of faith in which she “believes and proclaims that God does not leave his children alone, humble and poor, but sustains them with merciful care” and love (Angelus, Feast of the Assumption 2015). Through the Annunciation, God put us in direct, personal contact with his Divine Son. That is what the Church throughout the world celebrates today.
The second lesson is that “life is not a senseless wandering but a pilgrimage which, with all our sufferings … that has a sure destination” (Angelus, Feast of the Assumption 2015). The Virgin Mary’s “yes” of faith puts us on the clear path of faith to the Lord Jesus Christ himself – from the moment Gabriel’s words were spoken to her and she accepted his message – through the whole of his life – to the Cross and Resurrection. “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say.” On this feast we are called by her innocence, humility, courage, obedience and example to make her words our own.
In our troubled world at this very moment, unsettled by the outrage, carnage and destruction of many conflicts in the world, particular the current war in Ukraine and the continuing suppression of the faith in many countries, we turn to Mary once more – as we have done so often throughout the history of the Church – and place within her Immaculate Heart, in a profound act of consecration, the Church, Australia, Russia and Ukraine, as we pray for peace. Amen.