The daily Word of God
Tuesday, March 25th, 2025
The Annunciation of the Lord Solemnity
Luke 1:26-38: You are to conceive and bear a son.
First Reading: Is 7:10-14; 8:10
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary people,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means "God is with us!"
Responsorial Psalm: Ps 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11
R./ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, "Behold I come."
R./ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
"In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!"
R./ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
R./ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
R./ Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.
Second Reading: Heb 10:4-10
Brothers and sisters:
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats
take away sins.
For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.
Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,
behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings,
holocausts and sin offerings,
you neither desired nor delighted in."
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will."
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated
through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel Reading: Lk 1:26-38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
The angel came to her and said, "Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you." Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean.
But the angel said, "Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you. You shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus. He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule over the people of Jacob forever and his reign shall have no end."
Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be if I am a virgin?" And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the holy child to be born shall be called Son of God. Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child, and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible."
Then Mary said, "I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said." And the angel left her.
Opening the Door to Salvation
A simple “let it be,” echoing the “let it be” of Creation, is enough to let Salvation enter the world. A simple young woman becomes God’s doorway to the world. We proclaim Mary as “blessed among all generations,” as the Ark of the Covenant, the gate of heaven… Yet, all she said was that Fiat… Just that? Saying Fiat meant for her pain, anguish, mystery, and the final Cross of her Son. But it also meant the immense grace of being the bearer of light, within herself and in her arms at the Presentation. Saying Fiat changed the world and history forever.
Certainly, we are not chosen for that same feat. But we are chosen for the daily feat of allowing God to become present in our world; to let there be a word of salvation and hope. For us, too, this may sometimes mean difficulty, persecution, hatred from others, and pain. But, as for Mary, it also means the grace of carrying the light. And now we are not alone, because Mary’s Fiat has already brought us the grace of God incarnate in the world. It has given us the grace of now having the Body of Christ, who became flesh in Mary and is now given to us in the Eucharist: Ave verum Corpus natum ex Maria Virgine… Even when it seems incredibly hard to confront the lies, the ugliness we see in our world, the evil of some policies (and politicians, merchants, drug traffickers, or human traffickers), we have, like Mary, the Body of Christ. The only word asked of us is Fiat… And then we are given the grace and strength to live the Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ. And to proclaim it to the ends of the earth. (Which, curiously, are sometimes in our own home.) Will there be pain? Naturally; that’s inevitable. But there will be glory. It is promised. And what greater glory than to have opened a small door to God in the world!
Hail, true Body born of the Virgin Mary,
truly suffering, sacrificed on the cross for humanity,
from whose pierced side
flowed water and blood.
Be for us a foretaste in the hour of death.
Introduction
We celebrate today the solemn feast of the Annunciation. “Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary,” said the old missal. That was correct, in a way, for the angel came to announce glad tidings to Mary. “Annunciation of the Lord,” says the new missal. Yes, this is the day that the good news is announced that she will become the Mother of Jesus. It is Jesus who is announced. He will be “God-with-us” (1st reading), who comes to do God’s will by being with us and saving us (2nd reading). It’s Jesus’ day, but it’s also Mary’s day. With the same disposition to serve God and people as Jesus had, she says, I am fully ready to serve – “I am the handmaid of the Lord.” May these be our words too.
Opening Prayer
Our faithful God and Father,
you are indeed our “God-with-us.”
Your Son became one of us, human,
born of the Holy Spirit
and of the Virgin Mary.
He came to serve,
she was the humble handmaid.
Make us deeply aware, Lord,
that salvation began with service.
Make us ready to serve in love,
as Mary did, together with Jesus Christ,
your Son and our Lord for ever.
General Intercessions
On this solemnity of the Annunciation, let us pray with Mary for the needs of the Church and of all people.
– That the Church may always accept and carry out its vocation of proclaiming the Word of God faithfully and with zeal, we pray:
– That with the Lord we may reach out with goodness and tender care to the weak and those suffering, we pray:
– That those who have to take important decisions regarding the future of their life may, like Mary, see how they can best serve God and people, we pray:
– That we may all become unaffected and humble enough to let God do great things through us, we pray:
– That all in our Christian communities may be open enough to God’s Sprit to accept any task God asks of us, we pray:
Lord God, hear us as we ask you that with Mary we may seek your will in all we do. Grant this through her Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer over the Gifts
Lord our God,
here are bread and wine
as signs of our willingness
to be available to you and to our neighbor.
As Jesus could come among people
because Mary was ready to serve,
so may your Son now be alive among us
because we open our hearts
to you and to those around us,
together with Jesus Christ our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord God, our Father,
you have announced also to us today
that your Son came among us
to be the our life and joy.
He has been with us
as your living word and our bread of life.
May we grow in his life
and, like Mary, by his word bring a message
of liberation and happiness
to those in search of life and meaning.
We ask this in the name of Jesus the Lord.
Blessing
“Here I am to do your will,” says Jesus. “Here I am as the handmaid of the Lord,” says Mary. May these be our words too. They are beautiful, but they are not easy. May God be our strength, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
