The Solemnity of the Annunciation celebrates the coming of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to announce to her the special mission God had chosen for her in being the mother of His only son.
We are continually reminded of the importance of this feast to our salvation in various devotional prayers. Two examples that highlight the importance of this feast are the joyous mysteries of the Rosary and the Angelus.
The feast of the Annunciation began to be celebrated on this day during the fourth and fifth centuries, soon after the date for celebrating Christmas was universalized throughout the Church. This feast celebrates the Incarnation of the Second Person of the Trinity and the salvation of all mankind. This point of our salvation was deeply discussed by many of the Church fathers, to explain it to the faithful and to show the deep love God has for us. Some of the Church fathers who wrote on this were St. Athanasius, St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Augustine.
REFLECTION FOR THE DAY
He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. Luke 1:32
As we gaze at world history in 2021 AD we come across numerous personalities who have the tag ‘great’ with their name. They are great for various reasons but none of them is “rightly called Son of the Most High” and that makes the greatness of Jesus different. But his greatness became all the more great because being the only Son of God, he opted for being one with the suffering human beings even to the extent of death on a cross and this one death changed completely human outlook on fellow human beings. People began to look at others as brothers and sisters and an unusual sense of freedom and equality set into human consciousness. All the liberation movements started from the cross. Jesus taught that real God loves man to the extent of the cross and real greatness comes only when God mingles his tears with that of men.
POSITIVE LIVING 