The Great Mystery of the Annunciation

The Annunciation is a mysterious and decisive event—shrouded in mystery, because its only witness was Mary.

Everything we know about it comes from Mary, who told the story to Saint Luke, who reported it at the beginning of his gospel. The other protagonists of the scene are also mysterious and out of the ordinary: an angel who speaks to Mary, and the Holy Spirit who comes to take her under His shadow. The impression we have is that the whole of Heaven visited the house of Nazareth.

The Annunciation is mysterious also in its result: Mary conceives a Son without the intervention of a man. Whereas the normal course of things requires the physical union between a man and a woman, God wanted a virgin to give birth. This miracle is the fulfillment of a very ancient Messianic prophecy: "The Lord himself will give you a sign: behold, the Virgin has conceived and is giving birth to a son, and His name is Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). "Immanuel" means "God with us." For indeed this Jesus whom Mary is expecting is Himself a great mystery: God who has taken our flesh.

This event is decisive, for it represents man’s response to God's plan. God wanted His plan of salvation, the coming of Jesus, to depend on the answer of a young girl, the Virgin Mary: "Fiat mihi ... Let it be done to me according to your word," Mary replies to the Angel. Having opened the way of her heart, Mary also opened the way of her body: she first conceived Jesus in her soul by faith, before conceiving Him in her womb according to the flesh.

God wanted salvation to enter the world by the will of a woman, Mary, just as sin entered the world by the will of a woman, Eve. Eve, the "mother of the living," was the cause of death for mankind, for through her Adam sinned and original sin was passed on to all men. Mary, the mother of believers, was the cause of life for humanity, for through her the New Adam, Jesus Christ, came into the world to take away sin and restore God's friendship to all men.

The dialogue between the angel and Mary in Nazareth is an inverted mirror of the dialogue between Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In contrast to Eve's disobedience, Mary acts in obedience to God: "I am the handmaid of the Lord." It is through this obedience that the dawn of salvation and the joy of humanity rose over the world.

Father Augustin-Marie

Actuailes - March 25, 2020