DAILY- HOMILY

04 April 2016

ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD 

Solemnity. White. 

Is 7: 10 –14; 8: 10 / Heb 10: 4–10 / Lk 1: 26 – 38.

[Transferred Solemnity from 25 March 2016]

From the 1st Reading: Is 7: 10 - 14

Once again Yahweh addressed Ahaz, "Ask for a sign from Yahweh your God, let it come either from the deepest depths or from the heights of heaven."  But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask, I will not put Yahweh to the test."  Then Isaiah said, "Now listen, descendants of David. Have you not been satisfied trying the patience of people, that you also try the patience of God? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:  The Virgin is with child and bears a son and calls his name Immanuel."

From the 2nd Reading: Heb 10: 5 – 7

This is why on entering the world, Christ says:  You did not desire sacrifice and offering; you were not pleased with burnt offerings and sin offerings.  Then I said: "Here I am. It was written of me in the scroll, I will do your will, O God."

From the Gospel Reading: Lk 1: 30 - 35

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 the 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."

Reflection

Today we remember the astonishing fact that God became a helpless and tiny human being attached to the wall of a teen-age girl's uterus. The almighty infinite God became human flesh smaller than our fingernail: no one ever imagined it or prayed for it.

God's incarnation was so astounding that to the present day we do not know what to think of it. Why would God do such a thing?   Why would the all holy and all powerful God become human? To Muslims and Jews it seems blasphemous to suggest that the Supreme Being became a tiny human in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Why would the Creator become a creature? How can this be?  The incarnation of the Son of God blows our minds.

The only response we can make to the mystery of the incarnation is "God is love."  He does the unimaginable because he is love. He became a man because he is love. He lets himself to be crucified on a tree and die an ignominious death because he is love.  He gives us himself, his body and blood in the Eucharist because he is love.  

If we begin to understand that the incarnation of the Son of God is a mystery, we will be wise enough to worship, obey and serve Jesus with abandon. We will receive the incarnate Jesus in Holy Communion as often as possible, we will tell the world about him.  We will never be the same. We will be shocked out of our selfishness into reality.

"The Word was made flesh; he had his tent pitched among us" (Jn 1: 14a): this is a shocking revelation.  Christianity is the only major religion which believes in a personal relationship of human beings with God. 

Only because in the incarnation of the Son of God, when God became man in the womb of the Virgin Mary, it has been possible for us to touch, hear and see God and to have a person-to-person relationship with him. In his lifetime on earth people saw Jesus face to face,  touched him and were touched by him, talked to him and heard him.  Because God became human, he could and did suffer and die for love of us. He justified, redeemed and saved us as the God-man.

Because God became man, he could rise from the dead, conquer death and make it possible for us to also rise from the dead.  Because God became man, he could leave to us his gift of his own body and blood in the Eucharist.

Because God became man, he has made it possible to be baptized into him and be new creations through his death and resurrection.  We can then become adopted children of God and sharers even now of his divine nature.

Our personal relationship with God began with the incarnation of the Son of God and continues through the power of the Holy Spirit after Christ's return to his Father,

Today's Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, of his incarnation as man, celebrates the beginning of love that comes only in a personal relationship. Praise be to Jesus, who is God, man and love.     

WE PRAY FOR MTQ DAILY PRAYER DIARY INTENTIONS:

BIRTHDAY

     Fiel Reyes

     Josefina O. Gagui

     Maricris G. Figueroa

     Fr. Eric G. Velandria SJ

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most. 

Have a good day!

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