Reflection: Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord (Br David Arulnatham)

Today as the church celebrates the mystery of the Incarnation of the Lord, the whole church kneels at the words of the creed, “Et incarnates… and was made man”. This solemnity recalls the announcement of the Word taking flesh to be born through the person of Mary. “The Word became flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his Glory, the Glory that he has from the Father as only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” John 1:14. This is the moment in time in Salvation History where God endows Mary with an over abundance of grace to prepare her to play the role of the divine motherhood – the mother of God. Jesus the awaited Messiah from the line of David is to be born to redeem humanity back to the Father which was alienated from him as a consequence of the sin of Adam and Eve. We recall today the Almighty and most Merciful Father stooping down to humanity in his faithfulness and Mary’s “YES” to the will of the Father.

The church acknowledges this by reciting the “Angelus” throughout the year at the break of the day, at noon and at sunset with the exception of the Easter season where during this time the “Regina Coeli” is prayed. For those of us who are not aware of the Angelus, I have inserted the whole prayer below.

The Angelus

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary . . .
Behold the handmaid of the Lord:
Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
Hail Mary . . .
And the Word was made Flesh:
And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary . . .

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,
that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

-Let us pray:
Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts;
that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son,
was made known by the message of an angel,
may by His Passion and Cross
be brought to the glory of His Resurrection,
through the same Christ Our Lord.
Amen.

The Celebration of this solemnity, the incarnation of our Lord – the Word becoming flesh, invites us to recall God’s continuous faithfulness which is reciprocated in the faithfulness, obedience and humility of Mary the Star of the Sea who embodied the Son of God Jesus in her womb to be born as fully human for our salvation. Mary’s readiness to say ‘YES’ to the will of the Father and to let go of all her own dreams and plans to fulfill the Father’s will, reflects the virtues of faithfulness, obedience and humility in her. Celebrating this solemnity, we are called to imitate these great virtues of faithfulness, obedience and humility in our very own life and give thanks and Glory to God as we journey our life back to the arms of our Father in heaven.

Let us continue to pray the Angelus daily and fervently so that it becomes incarnate in us changing us to become the self intended by God the Father for each us. Let us in our daily living live the image and likeness of God so as to earn ourselves eternal life with the Father Son and the Holy Spirit in his eternal kingdom.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God,

that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

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Stay tuned for the next post by Br Joseph Zhang on 27th Mar 2011.