"THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD"

  25^th March, 2022:

FRIDAY

THIRD WEEK OF LENT (C)

(Is 7: 10-14; 8:10)

(Heb 10: 4-10)

(Lk 1:26-38)

"THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD"

Dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, today we celebrate the incomparable Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, denoting the moment when the Archangel Gabriel came to the little town of Nazareth before Mary, the one God had decided to be the carrier of His Messiah, and uncovered to her the Good News that we all humankind had anticipated for quite a while. The word Annunciation itself has a similar importance as the word 'declare' as the Good News was reported and uncovered in this world finally, that God's salvation was at long last close by.

The Lord has guaranteed His salvation to us all along of time. In the first reading today, when we heard the record from the Book of the prophet Isaiah with regards to the sign from God which Isaiah forecasted would come in spite of the absence of confidence from the king, as when Isaiah advised king Ahaz of Judah to request a sign from God, he wouldn't do as such, and the prophet chastised the lord for his refusal as that refusal was made not to such an extent by lowliness but instead by his absence of confidence and confidence in the Lord. Ahaz was one of the rulers of Judah who was viewed as one of the faithless and insidious lords, whose activities further misdirected people from God.

Isaiah referenced how God would give His indication in due opportunity to every one, that a lady would bear a Child, and that lady is a Virgin, who bears the Child with a most curious name, that is Emmanuel, or God-is-with-us. That was the truth be told an early disclosure of how God would help His children, that He Himself would happen upon us through the Virgin, the Woman whom He had as a matter of fact spoken about right since forever ago, when humankind initial fell into transgression. In the Book of Genesis, we knew about how Adam and Eve, our first ancestors trespassed against God, and how they ate of the forbidden tree’s fruit, and Satan deceived Eve to do that.

God sent Adam and Eve to stroll on the planet, into this world to persevere through the sufferings as the only results of our wrongdoings. Nonetheless, simultaneously, He actually consoled us the entirety of His affection, and keeping in mind that we need to endure the consequences of those insubordination and devilishness we had submitted, yet He actually adored us regardless, and He announced before Satan, Adam and Eve, that while Satan could strike at the offspring of man, suggesting how he would come to drag increasingly more of the offspring of man into wrongdoing and subsequently into perdition, yet through the Woman He discussed, God consoled and guaranteed us all of the redemption that would come, and that Savior would crush the head of Satan.

Subsequently, the expressions of the prophet Isaiah was as a matter of fact one more consolation from God of reality behind all that He would accomplish for His children. God would come Himself upon us, by readily taking up on our human life and flesh, becoming manifest through Mary, His mother, that He became substantial and affable to us, brought about by the Holy Spirit and afterward naturally introduced to this world, the Savior Who had been hotly anticipated for by the entire world. He is Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior, the Son of God Most High and the Son of Man. Mary's acknowledgment of her role in the delivering of God's salvation into this world made every one of these conceivable.

Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, as we heard in our Gospel episode today, Mary had paid attention to the expressions of the Archangel Gabriel, uncovering to her how she was to turn into the Mother of the Son of God Most High, and her acknowledgment of the role that the Lord had shared with her, fixed her role throughout the entire existence of our salvation. To that end the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord is actually nine months before Christmas, as it was at the exact instant that Mary addressed the Archangel Gabriel with all out accommodation to the desire of God, 'I'm the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said,' that by the force of the Holy Spirit, Our Lord was considered in the belly of Mary, the Virgin who was to bear a Child, the Savior of the world.

Mary's obedience to the Lord and her complete obligation to Him denotes her as the New Eve rather than the first and old Eve of the Book of Genesis. While the old Eve resisted the Lord and surrendered to her longings and paid attention to the lies of Satan enticing her with the charms of intelligence and information, Mary as the New Eve stayed devoted to the Lord and serious herself to Him, notwithstanding every one of the difficulties and preliminaries she could need to look for the way that she was driven into. As an unmarried lady, to have a Child outside the obligation of marriage it was extremely dangerous for her as she might have been battered to the point of death for her alleged infidelity, and normally Mary should have some dithering in her heart, knowing all that. In any case, she confided in sincerely in the Lord and gave herself to what the Lord endowed her with.

Mary has without a doubt been exceptionally ready by the Lord obviously, considered impeccable as the Immaculate Conception, put away to be the commendable vessel to bear the Lord, as she isn't simply the New Eve yet in addition the Ark of the New Covenant, the Covenant to be made and laid out by Jesus, her Son, Who lived in her belly for a long time. Notwithstanding, in spite of the fact that she was made perfect and liberated from the pollutant of unique sin, to set up her for her role, this didn't take from her the through and through freedom to pick. She decided intentionally to follow God, to submit to Him and to pay attention to Him as opposed to following the way of the shrewd one.

Also, that isn't all, brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Similarly as we heard from our second reading entry today, from the Epistle to the Hebrews, the creator of that Epistle talked about the commendable contribution proposed to the Lord, and featured how the contributions of blood and creatures of old can't completely fulfill these contributions and prerequisites to the Lord. In any case, the ideal and most commendable contribution has then been made by, in all honesty, Christ Himself, the ideal contribution of His own Most Precious Body and Blood, offered energetically and out of great and absolute submission to the desire of God, His eminent Father.

In like that, Christ has turned into the New Adam much as His Mother Mary is the New Eve. As the old Adam defied the Lord and wouldn't follow His orders, and on second thought paid attention to the lies of Satan to fulfill his own longings and in looking for common accomplishments, subsequently Christ has censured and dismissed Satan, showing us that we can break liberated from the power and mastery of malevolence, from his untruths and lies, from his enticements as a whole and the tensions that he had put on us in attempting to delude us and to occupy us to fall into the way of wrongdoing. Furthermore, that, yet Christ additionally showed His ideal dutifulness to the desire of His Father as a model for all of us to follow.

Today, as we commend this incredible Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, we all are helped to remember the affirmations that God has given to us every one of these time, all that He had accomplished for the good of we and all that He has vowed to us. In the event that we are dedicated to Him, we don't genuinely have anything to fear. For He has shown us the way ahead to timeless life, genuine bliss and delight with Him. Tragically, as a general rule we have wavered, adamantly declining to follow the Lord and all that He has shown us. The Lord has generally persistently driven us to Himself, and He needs us to realize that we all are darling to Him, and He cherishes us generally beyond all doubt.

Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, let every one of us remind ourselves today not to surrender to the pressures to sin, however rather be roused by Mary, the Mother of Our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, and Our Lord Himself, who as the New Eve and New Adam separately have shown us all the way out of the haziness of transgression and malevolence, into the radiance of honorableness and confidence. They have shown us that transgression and demise don't have the last say or control over us, as long as we have confidence in God, stroll in His way and dedicate ourselves earnestly to Him.

The inquiry is, would we say we are altogether ready to stroll down this way that God has shown us? Is it true that we will stroll down the way with God Who has generally been with us, consoled us over and over, and Who has descended into our middle, to live with us and to be Emmanuel, God Who is with us, substantial and agreeable? He has shown us generally His light, the way and trust in the midst of the haziness of this world. Is it safe to say that we are on the whole ready to follow Him? Or then again would we say we are as yet trapped in living in the obscurity of this world and in following the enticements and tensions to defy Him and to sin?

On this extraordinary Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord consequently, let all of us consider these and recognize cautiously our way ahead throughout everyday life. Allow every one of us to follow the compliance displayed by Mary, the Mother of God as she submitted to the desire of God so impeccably, entrusting herself to the consideration of her Lord, and followed Him regardless. Furthermore, let all of us additionally follow the case of her Son, Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in His confidence and all out dutifulness to the desire of His great Father. May we all attract nearer and nearer to God and may He fortify all of us to live perpetually commendably in His presence, presently and consistently. Amen.