March 25th is the solemn feast of the Annunciation. This solemnity is celebrated during Lent. Is there a significant meaning to it?
To reflect and ponder on this question, it is
helpful to see the Annunciation in a big picture and see what the Annunciation
leads to, what follow the Annunciation. The fact that the Annunciation is the
very first mystery of all the 20 mysteries of the Holy Rosary, not simply the
first Joyful Mystery in light of the Gospel text chronology, offers a clue to this
reflection and pondering.
Our Lenten journey will take us to Paschal Triduum,
and we will walk on Via Dolorosa and witness to the Paschal Mystery of Jesus
unfolding. These three days leading to Paschal Sunday reflects the five
Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. Because the Paschal Mystery completes
with the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord, we will also witness the
glorious resurrection and ascension of the Lord during the Paschal Season,
reflecting the five Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.
Then, you can link the Annunciation to the Paschal
Mystery. And it is also important to understand that we can connect the Annunciation
to the completion of the Paschal Mystery, because God trusted His will on Mary,
and Mary responded with her fiat, saying to let His will be done on her. So,
the Son of God was conceived in her womb and was given birth. Then, the Son
came to do the will of the Father, and the Paschal Mystery is an integral part
of His will.
So, what is the Annunciation?
To put is simply, it is the event when Archangel
Gabriel saluted Mary for being the Immaculate Conception, saying, “Hail, favored one!” (Luke 1:28) and
announced that she has conceived the Son of God in her womb by God’s will
through the Holy Spirit to serve Him as the Theotokos
(Luke 1:26-38). Though Mary was troubled
at first (Luke 1:29) and puzzled about the possibility of her pregnancy while
being virgin (Luke 1:34), Mary accepted the Son of God in her womb also as her
Son. So, she pledged to God her service to His will as His handmaid (Luke
1:38), knowing that it was done according to the will of God, with whom nothing
is impossible (Luke 1:35-37).
Yes, Mary listened to God through Gabriel’s
annunciation of the will of God on her and obeyed (Luke 1:26-38; cf. Jeremiah
7:23-28, First Reading of Thursday of the Third Week of Lent) – though she did
not fully understand the whole things about her surprise virgin pregnancy. It
is because Mary fully trusted God with all her heart (Proverbs 3:5; cf.
Jeremiah 17:5-10, First Reading of Thursday of the Second Week of Lent), as
demonstrated in her fiat, accepting His will and pledging to let it be done on
her as the Theotokos (Luke 1:38) and
in her Magnificat canticle,
proclaiming and praising the greatness of Almighty God in a prophetic way (Luke
1:46-55).
It is the very first mystery of all 20 mysteries of
the Holy Rosary as it marks the incarnation of the Theos-Logos (Word-God)(John 1:1, 14) in the human flesh of Jesus by
the power of the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35; Matthew 1:18). As the Annunciation is
also the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb, it commemorates the beginning of
Christ’s life on earth – though the first 9 months of it were hidden inside
Mary’s womb, and all the other 19 mysteries of the Holy Rosary reflects the life
of Jesus and the life of Mary afterward, focusing on the unique object
relationship between them from the relationship between the infant son with his
nursing mother on earth to the King of the Universe and His Gebirah/ גְּבִירָה
(Queen Mother) in heaven.
During the Annunciation, the Father sent His only
begotten Son out of His love for us (John 3:16; 1 John 4:9), by incarnating Christ, who pre-existed before
ages, before the Creation (Colossians 1:16-17; cf. John 1;1-2; cf. Proverb
8:22-31), making Theos-Logos in the
human flesh (John 1;1, 14) in Mary’s Immaculate womb by the power of the Holy
Spirit (Luke 1:31-35), out of her Immaculate flesh. Gabriel also revealed to Mary that her Son,
who is also the Son of the Most High and to be Davidic King (Luke 1:32),
fulfilling Nathan’s prophecy to David (2 Samuel 12-15; 1 Chronicles 17:11-14),
as well as, Isaiah’s (Isaiah 11:1-16).
And Mary gave birth to the Son of God Most High in
Bethlehem (Luke 2:7), fulfilling Micah 5:1 (cf. 2 Samuel 5:2), echoing Gabriel’s
revelation on Mary’s Son to be the Davidic Messianic King (Luke 1:32). This is
also the complete fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14, as the Annunciation was the
beginning to fulfil this prophecy, God issued to Ahaz, who remained defiant to
God, as reflected in the First Reading (Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10).
It is Bethlehem, not Jerusalem, not Nazareth, not
Capernaum, where she Mary birth to the incarnated Christ. Because Bethlehem is
where David was born as a son of Jesse (1 Samuel 17:12), it is fitting that the
Son of Mary, the incarnated Christ, was to be the ultimate and eternal Davidic
King, as announced by Gabriel (Luke 1:32), thus, fulfilling applicable
prophecies under the old covenant (2 Samuel 12-15; 1 Chronicles 17:11-14;
Isaiah 11:1-16). The fact that Joseph, who hailed from the Davidic lineage
(Matthew 1:6-16), whom the angel of the Lord called “son of David” (Matthew
1:20), accepted Mary as his wife and the incarnated Christ in her womb as his
Son, naming him “Jesus” (Matthew 1:19-25) also affirms the incarnated Christ to
be the Davidic King.
The birth of the incarnated Christ in Bethlehem also
give another theological and Christological significance because it suggests
that he was born to be the Living Bread of Life (John 6:35,48, 51), because
Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם/beth lehem, beit
lechem), literally means “house of bread”. And the fact that he was placed
in a manger upon his birth (Luke 2:7) suggests that the incarnated Christ was
born to be eaten by us for eternal life (John 6:53-58), instituted as the Sacrament
of the Holy Eucharist during the Lord’s Supper, for us to take until his return
(Matthew 26:26-30//Mark 14:22-25//Luke 22:14-23).
Though he is the Son of the Most High, the
incarnated Christ was born to abject poverty, being placed in a manger, wrapped
in swaddling clothes, because, together with Mary and Joseph, he was “rejected”
while being in his mother’s womb, by the innkeeper (Luke 2:7), as to indicate
that this Son of Mary, whom Gabriel revealed as the Son of the Most High, the
Davidic Messianic King to be (Luke 1:32-33), was destined to rejected and
killed by the world (i.e. Joh 18:1-19:42, Good Friday Passion Gospel narrative)
in order to fulfil Isaiah 52:13-53:12, the First Reading of Good Friday).
Annunciation is the beginning of the gradual
revelations of God’s salvific will to send the pre-existing Christ, His only
begotten Son, by incarnating the Theos-Logos
(Word God), in the Immaculate womb of Mary, by the power of the Holy Spirit, as
the ultimate Paschal Sacrifice (Korban
Pesach), whom John the Baptist called the “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (Agnus Dei, qui tolis peccata mundi )(John
1:29). So, he was killed by the time of the sundown when Passover Sabbath
began, making his rejection by the world, suffering, and death on the Cross, as
the preparation for Korban Pesach
(Passover sacrifice lamb: Exodus 12:5-6) (John 19:42). But, because of his
Paschal Sacrifice, we are able to receive his body, the very living flesh of
his, and his blood, as the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist at every Mass, in
the species of bread and wine, and also have been beneficiaries of the Divine
Mercy (i.e. Diary of St. Maria Faustina, 299).
Gabriel revealed to Mary at the Annunciation that
the Son whom she was impregnated with
was the Son of the Most High, who was to be named “Jesus” and to be the
Davidic Messianic King (Luke 31-33). And Zechariah, the priest and the husband
of Elizabeth, prophetically envisioned the birth of the Son in Mary’s womb as
the daybreak from on high to shine the divine light on those who are in
darkness and to guide them on the path of peace because of the tender mercy of
God (Luke 1:78-79; cf. Isaiah 9:1-6). And the Magi recognized the birth of the
incarnated Christ through the rising star (Matthew 2:2), which evokes the
messianic star in Balaam’s fourth oracle (Numbers 24:17). However, at the time
of the Presentation of the Lord (Fourth Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary),
Simeon prophesized that the Son whom Mary gave birth (Third Joyful Mystery of
the Holy Rosary), as foretold by Gabriel at the Annunciation (First Joyful
Mystery of the Holy Rosary), was destined to cause falling of those who do not
listen to him but rising of those who believe in him and listen to him, to
reveal people’s inner thoughts, but Mary would suffer because of this (Luke
2:34-35), indicating the contentious consequences of his public ministry to
divide those who are bound to be condemned and those who are bound to be saved,
as well as, suffering not only of him but also his mother, because of this,
reflected in the five Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary and the Seven
Sorrows of Mary. In this, the Son is to be killed.
The Second Reading (Hebrews 10:4-10), however, gives
meaning to the suffering and death of the Son, whom Mary conceived by the power
of the Holy Spirit and carried in her womb and raised as his Mother upon his
birth, as part of the Paschal Mystery, which is punctuated with the suffering,
death, resurrection, and ascension of the incarnated Christ. In his Second Reading
narrative, the Son’s death was not only as the ultimate Paschal Lamb (Korban Pesach) (Exodus 12:1-13) to free
us from the bonds of sins but also as the ultimate sacrificial offering of Yom
Kippur atonement (Leviticus 16:1-34), once for all. And this is the will of God
the Father. He wanted the perfect sacrifice offerings as He was not satisfied
with the way the Israelites offered years after years, for generations (i.e.
Hebrews 10:5, 8). And to do this will of the Father, Christ was incarnated in
the human flesh of Jesus in Mary’s Immaculate womb, to do this will (Hebrews
10:7, 9) – as being the ultimate unblemished sacrificial offering once for all.
Because he came to do this will of the Father, by being born of Mary and by
coming to be Baptized by John the Baptist to initiate his public ministry to
sort those who are to be saved and those who are to be condemned, those who
believe in him, listen to him, obey him, and follow his way are made holy (i.e.
Hebrews 10:10).
At first, as reflected in the Gospel Reading (Luke
1:26-38), God the Father trusted Mary to bring the divinity into the humanity,
though it has betrayed His trust by breaking the covenant. So, He sent His only
begotten So, the pre-existing Christ, to the humanity out of His love (John
3:16; 1 John 4:9), through Mary (Luke 1:31-33), who is the Immaculate
Conception (i.e. Luke 1:28, 30). At the Annunciation, this truth was revealed
to Mary. In response, Mary did not disappoint the Father as she accepted this
will of the Father on her, expressing her fiat – let His will be done on her
(Luke 1:38).
Then, God the Father trusted Joseph to take Mary,
who was already impregnated by His will, as his beloved wife (Matthew 1:18-24),
to be an integral factor in fulfilling His prophecy to Ahaz, who did not follow
Him. And he did not disappoint God for doing His will on him as the husband of
Mary and the earthly father of her Son (Matthew 1:24-25).
So, supported by Joseph, Mary gave birth to the Son,
in spite of the rejection by the innkeeper (Luke 2:1-7).
In the fullness of time, then, the Son came to do
the will of his Father, first, to be Baptized, then, to perform his public
ministry (e.g. Matthew 3:13-17), and to go through the Paschal Mystery in him:
suffering, death, resurrection, and ascension (i.e. Matthew 26:39, 42).
Therefore, Annunciation is a window to the Paschal Mystery of the incarnated
Christ, who came to do the Father’s will to save us (Hebrews 10:7-9) and to make
us holy (Hebrew 10:10), through Mary’s fiat:
Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word
(Luke 1:38).
And the Son whom Mary gave birth, by accepting God’s
will on her, later said:
Amen,
amen, I say to you, a son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees
his father doing; for what he does, his son will do also. For the Father loves
his Son and shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him
greater works than these, so that you may be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and
gives life, so also does the Son give life to whomever he wishes
(John 5:19-21).
And
this is the will of the one who sent me, that I should not lose anything of
what he gave me, but that I should raise it on the last day. For this is the
will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have
eternal life, and I shall raise him on the last day
(John 5:39-40).
In order to let the will of the Father be done on
the Son, the incarnated Christ in the human flesh of Jesus said, as he was to
let his Paschal Mystery begin to unfold with his passion:
My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from
me; yet, not as I will, but as you will (Matthew 26:39).
My
Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your
will be done! (Matthew 26:42).
So, the Son began walking on Via Dolorosa. But, it
was the only way to complete the Paschal Mystery with the resurrection and
ascension, in order for the will of the Father to raise us from the dead and to
make us holy.
For this, the Father sent His only begotten Son,
through Mary, who accepted His will on her, so that the Son came to the John the
Baptist to start doing His will on him.
And this is echoed by David’s expression to do God’s
will in the responsorial Psalm (40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11), with its refrain (v. 8,
v. 9):
Here
I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
What about you?
Have you come to journey your Lenten path, the “road
less traveled” to do God’s will? Have you discern what His will on you? Are you
willing to let it be done on you, as Mary was at the Annunciation?
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