20150325 COOPERATING IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTION THROUGH OBEDIENCE IN
FREEDOM AND LOVE
Readings at Mass
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First reading
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Isaiah
7:10-14,8:10 ©
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The Lord spoke to
Ahaz and said, ‘Ask the Lord your God for a sign for yourself coming either
from the depths of Sheol or from the heights above.’ ‘No,’ Ahaz answered ‘I
will not put the Lord to the test.’
Then he
said:
Listen now, House of
David:
are you not satisfied
with trying the patience of men
without trying the
patience of my God, too?
The Lord himself,
therefore,
will give you a sign.
It is this: the
maiden is with child
and will soon give
birth to a son
whom she will call
Immanuel,
a name which means
‘God is with us.’
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Psalm
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Psalm 39:7-11 ©
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Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
You do not ask for
sacrifice and offerings,
but an
open ear.
You do not ask for
holocaust and victim.
Instead,
here am I.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
In the scroll of the
book it stands written
that I
should do your will.
My God, I delight in
your law
in the
depth of my heart.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
Your justice I have
proclaimed
in the
great assembly.
My lips I have not
sealed;
you know
it, O Lord.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
I have not hidden
your justice in my heart
but
declared your faithful help.
I have not hidden
your love and your truth
from the
great assembly.
Here I am, Lord! I
come to do your will.
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Second reading
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Hebrews 10:4-10 ©
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Bulls’ blood and
goats’ blood are useless for taking away sins, and this is what Christ said, on
coming into the world:
You who wanted no
sacrifice or oblation,
prepared a body
for me.
You took no
pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin;
then I said,
just as I was
commanded in the scroll of the book,
‘God, here I am! I
am coming to obey your will.’
Notice that he says
first: You did not want what the Law lays down as the things to be
offered, that is: the sacrifices, the oblations, the holocausts and the
sacrifices for sin, and you took no pleasure in them; and then he says: Here
I am! I am coming to obey your will. He is abolishing the first sort to
replace it with the second. And this will was for us to be made holy by
the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Jn1:14
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Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
The Word became
flesh,
he lived among us,
and we saw his glory.
Praise to you, O
Christ, king of eternal glory!
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Gospel
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Luke 1:26-38 ©
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The
angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin
betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name
was Mary. He went in and said to her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is
with you.’ She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this
greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you
have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must
name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. The
Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David; he will rule over the
House of Jacob for ever and his reign will have no end.’ Mary said to the
angel, ‘But how can this come about, since I am a virgin?’ ‘The Holy Spirit
will come upon you’ the angel answered ‘and the power of the Most High will
cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son
of God. Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself
conceived a son, and she whom people called barren is now in her sixth month,
for nothing is impossible to God’ ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary
‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.
COOPERATING
IN CHRIST’S REDEMPTION THROUGH OBEDIENCE IN FREEDOM AND LOVE
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: ISA 7:10-14; 8-10; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38
Invariably,
the solemnity of the Annunciation always falls during the season of Lent. It
might appear to the unenlightened Catholic that this feast is not consonant
with the spirit of Lent.
However,
an understanding of the liturgy of the Church will help us to situate this
feast properly within the season of Lent and Easter. Both of these
seasons focus on the celebration of the paschal mystery, that is, the
passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. Of course, this is the
summit of the Church’s faith, for salvation is made possible only because of
the death and resurrection of Jesus. To celebrate this feast would
require us to consider on one hand, the beginnings of our salvation in the
Incarnation, and on the other hand, to turn our gaze on the paschal mystery.
In contemplating on the Paschal Mystery, we see Christ crucified, who redeemed
us through His obedience in fulfilling the Father’s will. On Calvary too,
we take heed of Jesus’ commendation of His mother to us.
Consequently
to appreciate the import of this feast of the Annunciation, we must view
this celebration in the light of the Paschal Mystery. The truth is
that Mary’s fiat at the Annunciation was necessary for the work of redemption
accomplished by Christ at the cross. The full consent of Mary was necessary for
the incarnation of the Son.
Why did God have to save
the world through the consent of Mary? The truth is that we are created for love. Salvation
is to share the life of God and the life of love. If God were to impose
His will on us, we would not be able to share the life of God, which is that of
freedom. To be created in God’s image is to share in His freedom. Were
God the Son incarnate Himself without the free consent of Mary, it would not be
true love. The Incarnation is not an invasion but a wedding. God wants
mankind to gladly say “I will”. At the Annunciation, Mary represents us in
saying “yes” to God’s will. It is Mary’s humble cooperation with God that makes
redemption possible.
Indeed, her “yes” to the
incarnation of God the Son in her womb is reenacted again at Calvary when
she consented to offer her Son for the redemption at the cross. This
places her, and makes us, the associate of Christ’s work of redemption, a
co-participant in the mystery of redemption. This explains why the second
reading in today’s liturgy is taken from Hebrews which speaks of Christ as the
High Priest. The freedom and obedience of Mary to God’s will make it
possible for Christ to incarnate and then give Himself up on the cross.
Indeed, what pleases the Father is not the blood of bulls and goats because
they are useless for taking away sins.
If we want to find
salvation today, we must join Jesus and Mary in doing His will. Each one of
us is called to unite his or her own “yes” to the mysterious plan of divine
providence. We are called to adhere to the divine will so that we can
find true joy and peace which we so ardently desire in our times. We must
not fall into the same mistake as Ahaz in today’s first reading who wanted to
do his own will.
Indeed, we should make
the words of the Psalmist our own: “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.’ 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!”
Doing His will
ultimately requires an interior giving. We can offer sacrifices; we can give money to the
poor and to others, but without true love. Jesus, in His passion and
death however, offered His entire self to be crucified primarily because of His
love for His Father and for us. Mary, in surrendering her only Son, no
less, also gave up her body in obedience and love to the Father for the love of
humankind.
Like Mary and Jesus, we too
are called to surrender ourselves to the Lord by dying to our sinfulness, our
mortal desires, our ego, our pride and our fears. But how can this be
possible? This was also Mary’s question. Of course
she did not ask this question in doubt, but she was perplexed as to how she
could be a virgin, which she believed was God’s desire for her, and yet be a
mother of Christ.
And the response of the
Archangel Gabriel was that in God’s mysterious design, it would be brought
about by the power of God through a unique intervention on His part and not
according to the laws of nature. Indeed, it is important to take note that in
the light of the paschal mystery, if our Lady could stand at the foot of the
cross and say “yes’ to the end, it was because she was already redeemed
through the cross. For at the foot of the cross, Mary personified the
Church, as described by St Paul: “without spot or wrinkle or any such thing …
holy and without blemish” (cf. Eph. 5:27). Through the sanctifying grace of her
Son, received at the first moment of her conception, she is “the only member of
the real pilgrimChurch to correspond fully to the ecclesial attribute
‘immaculate.’”
In other words, her
“pre-redemption” makes “co-redemption” possible. This is what we mean
when we speak of the Immaculate Conception of Mary implied in the words of the
angel Gabriel, “Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” It
was only through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, given to her from her
conception, that she could cooperate with Him. Indeed, it is said that
“She is not pre-redeemed through co-redemption, but through pre-redemption she
becomes Co-redemptrix.”
What is therefore
required of us, as it was of Mary, is faith. We must believe in the power of His grace. Only
when we believe, is there then nothing that is impossible for God to do.
Once we truly believe and surrender in faith, we need not have to
understand everything that happens to us in life. But, so long as we keep
on rationalizing, like Ahaz, we will never be able to do His will.
Rather, we must be convinced of God’s power and allow Him to take us into those
situations where we think is humanely not possible to overcome, for only then
would it become patently clear that it is God who is working, not us.
Today, as we celebrate the
feast of the Annunciation, we take Mary, who is the true hearer of the Word
because she responded with faith and trust to the Lord, to be our model of
faith and obedience. Mary believed God’s promises even when they
seemed impossible. She was full of grace because she trusted that what God said
was true and would be fulfilled. She was willing and eager to do God’s will,
even if it seemed difficult or costly. This was what Elizabeth remarked when
she met Mary a little while later. “Blessed is she who believed that what
the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
Only in faith, could the
incarnation take place. In the same way, only faith can make it
possible for God to live in us in the power of the Holy Spirit so that we can
receive His grace to live out our calling in life. Yes, today the
Church invites us to be like Mary, to be docile to His grace, to consent to His
will and so allow His grace to work in and through us. Only when that
happens can we truly live out His will and be faithful to His divine plan for
us in our lives.
Finally, true joy and
happiness consist not only in doing His will, but this fidelity must be constant
unto death. It is easy to do God’s will for a day or two; to do it in
a moment of enthusiasm. But it is difficult to do it in the hour of trial
and tribulations, especially throughout one’s life. For this reason, like
Mary, we must find our strength at the foot of the cross, meditating on her
son’s death and resurrection.
Let us, whilst
contemplating on the Incarnation today, consider it in the light of the passion
and death and resurrection of our Lord, so that in living out the will of God
in our lives, we will never lose hope, but trust that in that total surrender
to His will for us, we will find fullness of life, here and hereafter.
WRITTEN BY THE MOST REV
WILLIAM GOH
ARCHBISHOP
OF SINGAPORE
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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