The Solemnity of the Annunciation, Monday, April 8, 2024

Luke 1, 26–38

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.” But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then 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 and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” And 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 said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The Solemnity of the Annunciation is transferred to today.  It could not be celebrated during Holy Week, where it fell this year, or during the Octave of Easter,  This is the first day on which it can be celebrated.  Please note the article on the Mass after the reflection on the Gospel Reading.

At the end of the Akathist hymn of the Greeks, we hear, “Gabriel was rapt in amazement as he beheld your virginity and the splendor of your purity, O Mother of God, and he cried out to you: By what name shall I call you? I am bewildered; I am lost! I shall greet you as I was commanded to do: Hail, O Woman full of Grace!”  To glimpse something of the nature of the Conception of our Lord in the womb of the nVirgin Mary, we must resort to images such as that of the burning bush in Exodus 3, 2: “And the angel of the Lord appeared to [Moses] in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.”  It is a contradiction, a paradox, an impossibility, and yet it is.  

God joined himself to a human nature and so joined himself to us, that we might be joined to him.  For this reason, St. Thomas Aquinas calls the womb of the Virgin Mary the thalamus — the marriage chamber — of God and human nature.  And this is a fallen human nature that receives him as Spouse, reminding us of the commandment of God to marry the harlot: “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry, for the land commits great harlotry by forsaking the Lord.”  This prophetic act was meant to present to the Israelites a living picture of their own relationship with God.  Hosea went and did marry such a wife, and he loved her and they had a son.  But she returned to her harlotry and broke his heart.  We can see here the Son of God marrying our nature in order to draw it away from its inclination to sin, and so to draw us away from it as well. 

The Virgin Mary shows us how to respond to God’s love and his offer of union with our souls.  May we imitate her mind and her life in our obedience and faith.

Today we begin a series of short articles on the Holy Mass, and first of all we will consider what the Mass is.  For this, we will have to consider what various councils and doctrinal statements say because there seems no one place that gives a complete and concise definition.  This is the case probably because the Mass is so familiar to Catholics that when it was discussed certain of its characteristics were emphasized to the (near) exclusion of others.  For example, the Council of Trent primarily speaks of the Mass as the Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ without bringing in that it is an act of worship; the glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church offers that it is a Eucharistic celebration (without explaining what that means) without mentioning its sacrificial nature.  Drawing from various sources we can say that the Holy Mass is the act of worship par excellence of the Catholic Church since within it the Church, through the priest, who is in the Person of Christ, continually offers up the Sacrifice of the Cross to God the Father.  Because Christ is present in the priest who makes the offering and because he is also the Victim that is offered, no other act of worship can surpass it or even approach it.  At its most central point, the priest, through the power of Christ, changes ordinary wheat-bread and wine mixed with water into the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, offers these to the Father, and then consumes it, consummating the offering.  Catholics free from the contagion of mortal sin then may approach the altar to receive a share in the Sacrifice for their own benefit.  The priest, and those present in the congregation, offer the Sacrifice for the salvation of the world, the purpose for which the Lord offered himself on Golgotha, and for more personal goods, such as the recovery of a loved one from sickness or a member of the faithful departed.  Much more can be said about what the Mass is, but this is enough for a start.  All the articles that will follow will add to the understanding of what the Mass is.

Tomorrow: Why is the Mass called “the Mass”?