20200325
ALL
YESES ARE CONTAINED IN THE ONE BIG “YES” TO GOD
25 March, 2020, Wednesday,
Annunciation of the Lord
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: White.
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First reading
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Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10 ©
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The maiden is with child
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
Isaiah 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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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm 39(40):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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God's will was for us to be made holy by the offering of his body
made once and for all by Jesus Christ.
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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'I am the handmaid of the Lord'
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.
ALL YESES ARE
CONTAINED IN THE ONE BIG “YES” TO GOD
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [ IS 7:10-14, 8-10; PS 40:7-11; HEB 10:4-10; LK 1:26-38]
The Solemnity of the
Annunciation is not just a Marian feast in honour of our Blessed Mother.
It is also a Christological feast in honour of Christ. This is because the “yes” of Mary
is intrinsically linked with the “yes” of Christ. The redemption of the
world requires both the “yes” of Mary and Jesus. Hence, the Solemnity of
the Annunciation normally falls on Lent and sometimes on Easter. This is
because in His incarnation, our Lord was destined for His the passion, death
and resurrection. Without the paschal mystery, the incarnation would have
lost its meaning. It is the passion, death and resurrection of our
Lord that saved the world from sins. Christmas would not have been
celebrated if not for the paschal mystery. Indeed, the Incarnation and
Christmas anticipate the paschal mystery of our Lord. Without their
common “yes” to God’s will, there will be no incarnation and no paschal
mystery.
The incarnation is the
fulfillment of the Old Testament promise. Jesus is the Messiah foretold
in Isaiah when the Lord
said, I “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’.” The angel assured Joseph who wanted to divorce Mary
informally in a dream saying to him, “All this took place to fulfill what had
been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ‘Look, the virgin shall conceive
and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means, ‘God is
with us.'” (cf Mt 1:20-23) As the son of Joseph from the House of
David, Jesus would reign as king over the whole creation. The angel said,
“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.” So Joseph said, “yes” to God.
We can be sure it was not easy for him.
But the greatest “Yes”
came from Mary.
And this “yes” came at an enormous price. For some of us, we only
consider the great privilege of Mary in being chosen to be the mother of the
Saviour. Indeed, in the ministry of Jesus, a woman cried out, “Blessed is
the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” (Lk 11:27)
However, the Lord replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God
and obey it!” (Lk 11:28) So whilst being chosen to be the mother of Jesus,
the Messiah, is a great honour, more importantly, it is living out the vocation
of being the mother of the savior that is the higher calling.
Indeed, it is not so difficult to be a mother. Every woman who can
conceive can be a mother. However, not every mother is a good
parent. Being a parent requires us to look after and nurse the child, to
help him or her grow in wisdom, maturity and grace, fulfilling his or her
vocation in life. This entails a life-long sacrifice until death. No
matter how old the child is, a mother will care for the child, love the child
until death do them part.
Mary’s fiat was more
than just a “yes” to being the mother of the Messiah. It entailed all the sacrifices
involved in that decision. This decision was to affect not just the
lives of others but her own life as well. From the moment, she said “yes’
she had to worry about how to explain her pregnancy to Joseph and her
family. Would she be accused of adultery, be stoned to death and bring
shame to the family? Soon after the birth of our Lord, they were
persecuted and had to take refuge in Egypt. When Jesus was old enough to
begin His mission, Mary had to bear the pain of Jesus leaving her. By
then she was already a widow. Furthermore, in spite of all the good works
that her Son did, she had to bear hearing him being accused of madness,
possessed by Satan, a drunkard, an imposter, a religious fraud and a political
criminal. Most of all, she had to see her Son tortured and scourged, stripped
naked and nailed on the cross like a criminal to die. Which mother can
tolerate and bear the pain of seeing her only Son die in such a horrifying and
scandalous manner?
So saying “Yes” is not
merely just an assent to the Lord’s calling. It entails fidelity to the
call for the rest of our lives.
When a mother gives birth to a baby, she becomes a mother until she parts with
her child at death. She has to sacrifice her time, energy, resources,
money, rest, freedom, social life and entertainment to look the after the child
for the rest of her life. A baby or a little child can bring great joy to
the parents. But when the child grows up, becomes an adolescent, have a
mind of his or her own, and later on becomes an adult, the mother would have to
face the pain of separation and the independence of her child. Sometimes,
the child does not always act rightly. He or she gets into trouble and
the mother has to step in to save the child. When the child suffers, the
mother suffers even more, seeing the child suffer. This is because the
mother’s love for her child is that of a “womb-love.”
When we say “yes” it is
not just a verbal answer but a total giving up of our body to another
person. This is so in marriage as well. Unfortunately, we never count the cost of
getting married or having a child. Many readily get married when they are
in love without understanding the demands of a married life. They think
marriage is reducible to a life of romance without realizing it is a life of
giving, caring, forgiving, tolerating and enriching the other person. It
calls for self-sacrifice, giving up of one’s freedom, resources, time, energy
and will for the greater good of the other person. If we have not
considered the price of marriage and parenthood, then we are not ready to say
“yes’ to marriage or parenthood.
What we speak of
marriage and parenthood is also true in our professional vocation in life. When Jesus said “yes” to be the
Savior of humanity, by His incarnation, emptying Himself of His divinity and
taking upon our humanity, He was agreeing to more than just being a man like
us. It implied that He was ready to share in our pain, suffering,
struggles against temptation, and injustices in life. As the Lord says,
“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s
friends.” (Jn 15:13)
Doing the will of God
requires more than just giving up our body but our will for God’s will. This is what the letter of Hebrews said,
“that is what Christ said, on coming into the world: You wanted no sacrifice or
obligation, prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or
sacrifices for sin; then you said, just as I was commanded in the scroll of the
book, ‘God here I am! I am coming to obey your will.’ This will was for
us to be made holy by the offering of his body made once and for all by Jesus
Christ.” Indeed, Jesus did not just do good, perform miracles, heal the
sick but He also had to give up His body for the salvation of all by dying on
the cross. Jesus in union with Mary throughout their lives were
constantly saying “yes” to God. (cf 2 Cor 1:20)
Today, we are called to
share in the redemptive plan of God for humanity and for ourselves. Like Jesus and Mary, we have a part
to play in the salvation of humanity. We need to be docile to the will of
God as Jesus and Mary were. Mary was always discerning in finding out the
will of God. When the angel told her that she was chosen to be the mother
of the Savior, she asked in faith and humility “But how can this come about,
since I am a virgin?” When told by the angel how this would happen
through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, her response was immediate and
firm, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to
me.” We too are to fulfill the will of God in our lives so that God’s
divine plan could be fulfilled in us. This might mean having to die for
Him and our fellowmen. Like Jesus, we have to give up our body and blood
for the good of others. We must be humble and cooperative by allowing
God’s grace to work in and through us. Let us not hinder what the Lord
wants to do with us and through us by our lack of docility and humility.
We must not fall into the arrogance of King Ahaz who insisted on doing his own
will rather than to trust in God’s power to save Judah. He was bent on
doing what he intended instead of listening to God. He lacked faith in God
and therefore was disobedient. With Jesus and Mary, let us walk in faith
in fidelity to our vocation. In His will is our peace and joy!
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All
Rights Reserved
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