Angelus

Angelus

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,

R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, etc...

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.

R. Be it done unto me according to Your Word.

Hail Mary, etc...

V. And the Word was made flesh,

R. And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary, etc...

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God.

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord,

Your Grace into our hearts;

that as we have known the incarnation of Christ,

your Son by the message of an angel,

so by His passion and cross

we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.

Through the same Christ, our Lord.

Amen.

The first phrase is very important: The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, what? That She will become the Mother of God. It is the God’s proposal, God’s offer.

This is a very important day for our Catholic Faith. What our faith affirms is unique. There is no religion that says what we say: God became man, flesh, one of us.

We say that we believe that Jesus is true God and true man. If we really believe in this with all our hearts, today is a day to rejoice, because thanks to the mercy of God and to the “yes” of Mary, the incarnation of God became possible.  I should say that not only did it become possible, but it will be true until the end of times.

Brothers and sisters, after the consent of the Virgin Mary to the proposal of love received by God through the Angel, the second person of the Holy Trinity remains united to our human nature. Jesus assumed our human nature and will never regret it. This means that in heaven, at the right hand of God, where our Lord Jesus sits, part of us is there, and part of Mary is there as well.  We could say that our human nature is sanctified by the reality of the Incarnation.

We should never think that God crushes the will of Mary. Through the Angel, God made a proposal of love to Mary. He shared His plan, but left her free to accept or reject it.  He asked her permission. The Incarnation didn’t happened until Mary said “Yes”.

Brothers and sisters, something similar happens in us.  In the book of Revelation, Chapter 3, we read: “God is at the door knocking…” He makes a promise, “If someone opens, I will enter and dine with him.” God doesn’t want to crush our will either – he leaves us free to open the door or not.  He always treats us with mercy and patience.  

But we should want to accept His invitations, His proposals of love.  We should desire to say “Yes”, like Mary, because the Father always wants what is best for us, His children.

Brothers and sisters, this is the day when we can say “Yes” to the merciful plan of God, even if it surpasses our comprehension or our strength... It is our chance to accept His grace and love for us. He is saying also to you and to me "Do not be afraid my son, my daughter, I am with you always, and never forget: nothing is impossible for me".

God was complaining through Isaiah the prophet: your ways are not my ways. Let us remember that God came to our rescue, to help our weak legs and and weak feet and He want to “walk the walk with us”. Do you want Jesus walking with you? Do you want Jesus to be your way? Following the example of Mary, let us resolve to say “yes” to God’s Offer, to say YES to His proposals of love, trusting in His strength to sustain us always until the end of times. Amen.