“… the Angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great … called Son of the Most High … and of His Kingdom there will be no end.'”
Mass Readings 12.8.14 – GN 3:9-15, 20 – PS 98:1, 2-3AB, 3CD-4 – EPH 1:3-6, 11-12 – LK 1:26-38
Find a Mass: MassTimes.org – Find a Mass: TheCatholicDirectory.com – VIDEO: Daily Mass – Toronto – VIDEO: Daily Mass – Boston/Catholic TV – VIDEO: Sunday Mass – Passionists
FIRST READING: Genesis 3:9-15, 20
We encounter the Creation Story right after the fall, when Adam and Eve have disobeyed God and eaten the forbidden fruit, and God is looking for them.
After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, ‘Where are you?’ …
Mary stands as a counterpart to Eve.
The Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is the beginning of original sin, experienced by human beings generally but not Mary. With the fall, sin and death enter the world and the human experience. In Salvation History, the later arrival of Christ, relying on the cooperation of Mary, ushers in our Redemption, our being saved and invited to Eternal Life. Ultimately, after the Second Coming there will be a new heaven and a new earth. Yet in today’s Readings, there is a symmetry, running from the introduction of original sin with the Fall of Adam and Eve in Eden, to the arrival of Mary, who is free of original sin, and whose “yes” cooperates in the arrival of Christ and the Redemption of Humanity.
Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done Marvelous Deeds.
SECOND READING: Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
Saint Paul reminds us of the Blessedness of God and His Blessings upon us.
We are the result of the Creative Act of a Loving God, chosen by Him to be part of Salvation History. God chose us in Christ even before the foundation of the world, calling us to Holiness.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has Blessed us in Christ with every Spiritual Blessing in the heavens, as He Chose us in Him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before Him. In Love He destined us for adoption to Himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the Favor of His Will, for the praise of the Glory of His Grace that He granted us in the Beloved. …
On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception we are reminded, too, of Mary as a model of Holiness.
While the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception focuses upon the conception of Mary, who was conceived free of original sin, the Gospel passage is about the events leading up to the Conception of Christ, the Annunciation.
The Archangel Gabriel visits Mary in Nazareth. He gives us the first part of the Hail Mary prayer in his greeting of her.
The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said, ‘Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.’ …
Gabriel explains to Mary that she is to bear a Child, even though she is a Virgin. The Holy Spirit will overshadow her and the Child will be the Son of God.
… the Angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great … called Son of the Most High … and of His Kingdom there will be no end.’
Indeed, the Archangel comforts Mary to not be afraid, and to recall that her cousin Elizabeth, of advancing years and thought barren, is now in her sixth month (pregnant carrying the prenatal John the Baptist) — for nothing is impossible for God.
… the Angel said to her in reply, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the Child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.’
Mary responds with her Fiat, her great “yes,” to the benefit of all humanity.
Mary said, ‘Behold, I am the Handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.’
