Is. 9:1-3,5-7
Lk. 1:26-38
-The annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary in today’s Gospel inaugurates “the fullness of time,” the time of the fulfillment of God’s promises and preparations.
-Mary was invited to conceive Him in whom the “whole fullness of deity” would dwell bodily, and of whom the prophet Isaiah in today’s first reading prophesy when he said, “for to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
enriched by God with gifts appropriated to such a role. The angel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation salutes her as “full of grace.” In fact, in order for Our Lady to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.
-The catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that “what the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ.”
-Today’s feast recalls Mary’s dignity as an intimate, voluntary co-operator with her Son in every step of His redemptive mission, and underlines her loving initiative and resourcefulness as the Mother of Mercy.
-Pope Pius XII consecrated the world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Mother and Queen, on Oct. 31, 1942, and instituted the Feast of the Queenship of Mary in 1954.
-That Mary reigns as queen of many Christian hearts is not due to any campaign of hers but to the dignity given her by God in making her the Mother of His Son.
-The queenship of Mary honors her in imitation of the honor God has already done her. We praise here receptivity to God’s grace and cooperation with the Holy Spirit and call her queen.
-Finally, in the words of St. Louis De Montfort: “The more we honor the Blessed Virgin, the more we honor Jesus Christ, because we honor Mary only that we may the more perfectly honor Jesus, since we go to her only as the way by which we are to find the end which is Jesus.”
Fr Alberic Maisog