Feast of the Annunciation – March 25

Nine months after March 25, on December 25, the feast of the birth of Jesus is celebrated. On the Feast of the Annunciation the Church celebrates the fact that God became a human being, flesh and blood and "dwelt among us (John 1:14) and in a special way dwelt in the womb of Mary.

Ever since the sin of the first human being, God has found Himself exiled from the world of humans. With our "no", with our refusal to accept Him with joy and the obedience of children to their father, we have turned God into a refugee from our world, a world He created and gave to us. For generations, He waited for an absolute "yes" without hesitation, a "yes" that would allow Him to come back and be with us, a "yes" that would allow us to announce in joy and thanksgiving that "God is with us - Immanu El".

One essential step towards the "yes" after the generations of "no" represented by Adam, Cain, the sinners of the generation of the flood and the builders of the Tower of Babel was the "Here I am" of Abraham. With complete faith, despite all that seemed to the human intellect impossible to fulfill, Abraham said his "yes". First he left his land, his tribe and his father's house to go to the land that God showed him. And then, towards the end of his journey, he did not even withhold his son, his only one, his beloved one from God even though offering him up as an offering would turn his future into a dead end. At the beginning of his walking with God, Abraham received the fateful commandment from his God "Be blessing" (Genesis 12:2). Abraham's "yes" served as a canal for the return of blessing to the world.The moments in which the seed of Abraham - the people of Israel - said its "yes" are the peak moments in which the vocation of the people is fulfilled: to be blessing and light to the nations. At Sinai, the people took upon itself the Word of God as given in the Torah by saying: "We will do, and we will be obedient" (Exodus 24:7).

The vocation of the people of Israel, according to the faith of those who believe in Jesus Christ, is fulfilled completely in Jesus of Nazareth himself "Who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead" (Romans 1:3-4).

The Feast of the Annunciation underlines the moment in which Mary, the mother of Jesus, says her "yes" in answer to the angel: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). The "yes" of Mary echoes the "yes" of the people of Israel at Sinai and in this way a door is opened for the coming of God into the world. Jesus Christ is the absolute "yes" because in him "was not "Yes and No"; but in him it is always "Yes." (2 Corinthians 1:19).

On the Feast of the Annunciation (that falls this year during Lent) we want to renew our "Yes" so that according to the example of Mary we too can become an ark of the covenant that carries within it the Word of God.