Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord
Celebrated on March 25th(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
In both the East and West, Mary is the most important of saints . St Matthew describes how, when the angel Gabriel came to her and said: “Hail favoured one, the Lord is with you” - she replied simply: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be be done unto me according to your word.”
The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates “the fullness of time”, the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises and preparations.
The divine response to her question, “How can this be, since I know not man?”, was given by the power of the Spirit: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you.”
The Holy Spirit, “the Lord, the giver of Life”, is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father .
(from CCC)
The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in their document Lumen Gentium proclaimed :
"The Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by the acceptance of her who was predestined to be the mother of His Son, so that just as a woman contributed to death, so also a woman should contribute to life. That is true in outstanding fashion of the mother of Jesus, who gave to the world Him who is Life itself and who renews all things, and who was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role.
"The Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God’s command, by an angel messenger as “full of grace”, and to the heavenly messenger she replies: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word”.
" Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God’s salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption.
"Rightly therefore the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely cooperating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she “being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert in their preaching, “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith.” Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her “the Mother of the living,” and still more often they say: “death through Eve, life through Mary.”
Last edited: