The Incarnation of the Son of God, which we celebrate today, is one of the greatest mysteries of our faith and a sublime event in the history of humanity, from which the entire redemptive work of Jesus Christ originates.
And it is in Mary that this culminating event takes place. Infinite Goodness, which is God, descends and offers Himself to us in a man: Jesus.
We can imagine ourselves entering the scene as a friend or a neighbor and draw lessons for ourselves.
° God decrees and accomplishes a great work on our behalf: to free us from our sins. He asks, as Saint Ignatius says, for the “interior knowledge of the Lord who became man for you, so that you may love Him more and follow Him.”
° Mary was alone and praying when the Archangel arrived. For Mary’s entire life, even in her simplest and most ordinary activities, was always prayer. God communicates Himself in prayer.
° In prayer she received the message that she had been chosen to bring God into the world, to bring salvation, joy, light, and peace, according to the prophecy of Isaiah: “For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. Authority rests upon His shoulders, and He shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, to extend His dominion and for a peace without end... from now and forever” (Is. 9:6-7).
° Mary’s response is not one of opposition but of complete openness and availability, even though it would be costly: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” Such is the life of every person of faith.
° From this moment on, Mary already carries God within her. Everything has changed in the world. Yet outwardly nothing revealed to the neighbors that in the carpenter’s house something so extraordinary was taking place.
The Unreachable Within Our Reach
Such are the ways of God. For God, maturity is formed in silence, in daily and monotonous life, but lived with great depth of love for God.
The husband worked. He continued receiving simple commissions. The wife cleaned the house, brought water from the well, prepared the bread, and as the time of childbirth approached, she made the garments with which she would clothe and keep the Child warm.
° God, the unreachable One, is now within our reach. And He comes through a woman, the blessed among all women: the Blessed Virgin Mary. This is the greatest gift God could have given us.
“The Word of God became flesh.” What does this phrase contain?
° That Jesus removed from man what was diabolical = evil, sin.
° That Jesus assumed and made His own all that is natural and proper to man: everything human except sin.
°That Jesus bestowed upon man all that is divine. Thus, from the moment Jesus, the Son of God, became man, everything belonging to man was elevated to the supernatural.
Jesus, the Incarnate Word, is the face and the voice of God. He is God seen in a human face, heard in a human voice. The Father is not seen. He is seen in Jesus.
In Jesus we come into contact with God; we are united to God. Restore Truth within yourself. Live it. Adjust your vision to God’s vision. View everything from God’s perspective.
Let Us Turn to Mary
In these days of Lent, when God grants us more time to reflect, let us also take advantage of it to pray more, to pause along the course of our lives, to dust off what we thought was no longer a priority and discover that it truly was...
Let us turn to Mary and ask her to teach us the art of silence for the interiorization of the Word of God. In prayer, God always speaks to us; He only needs to find a heart docile to His Will, like that of the Virgin of Nazareth.
