Luke 1:26-38

Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10

Psalm 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11

Hebrews 10:4-10

Luke 1:26-38

The angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,

of the house of David,

and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was greatly troubled at what was said

and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her,

“Do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favor with God.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

and you shall name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,

and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,

and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,

and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel,

“How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?”

And the angel said to her in reply,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,

has also conceived a son in her old age,

and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;

for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

Opening Prayer: Lord God, you invite me today to celebrate and contemplate the Incarnation of your Son. You asked Mary, your handmaid, to be the mother of your Son and she responded with a generous and prompt yes. I humbly ask today that I be strengthened with your grace to respond to your loving will in the same way.

Encountering the Word of God

1. The Initial Fulfillment of Isaiah’s Prophecy: The First Reading is taken from the prophet Isaiah. Originally, Isaiah gave a prophetic sign to the wicked king of Judah, Ahaz. Instead of trusting in the Lord, Ahaz trusted in human power and decided to submit to and pay tribute to the Assyrian Empire. The prophet Isaiah vigorously opposed this policy and communicated the sign that the Lord gave the king: “The virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.” The royal son, born to Abi, the wife of King Ahaz, partially fulfilled this prophecy and became one of the two good kings of Judah. This son, born of a young woman, was King Hezekiah, who reigned from 715 to 687 B.C. Hezekiah’s reign “was marked by the great religious reform that laced Jerusalem at the heart of religious life, and by his foreign policy centered on gaining independence from Assyria” (Hahn (ed.), Catholic Bible Dictionary, 360). 2 Kings 18:5-6 says this about King Hezekiah: “He trusted in the Lord the God of Israel; so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses.” Hezekiah was only an initial fulfillment of the prophecy. He protected Judah and Jerusalem from the threat of the Assyrians and brought the worship of God to the center of his Kingdom, but he himself was not “God with us.”

2. The Ultimate Fulfillment of Isaiah’s Prophecy: The Gospel reveals that Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. The virgin who gives birth, in this case, is not just a young maiden or the wife of a king, but the Virgin Mother, Mary. Mary is a perpetual virgin – a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Jesus. Her son is truly “God with us.” The reforms of King Hezekiah lasted only a short while and, after Hezekiah’s death, the Kingdom of Judah fell back into idolatry. By contrast, Jesus will sit on the throne of David and rule over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, “and of his Kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33). Jesus doesn’t just reform an earthly kingdom, he inaugurates the Kingdom of Heaven on earth. He continues to reign as king over all. He remains with us in the Church and in the Eucharist. He is truly “God with us”!

3. A Body You Prepared for Me: In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author meditates on the coming of Christ into the world. He draws out a contrast between the offerings of the priests in the Temple and the offering of Jesus on the Cross. The blood of bulls and goats in holocausts and sin offerings were ineffective in taking away the sins of the people. The blood of Jesus, poured out for our sins, effectively takes away our sins and consecrates us. The animal sacrifices mandated in the Old Covenant mediated by Moses, were brought to fulfillment in the New Covenant mediated by Jesus, the New Moses. The many ineffective sacrifices were replaced by the one sacrifice and offering of the Body of Jesus. When we celebrate the Eucharist, then, Jesus is not re-sacrificed each time, but rather we share in the one sacrifice Jesus offered. The one sacrifice of Christ is made present and perpetuated in the mass: “The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: ‘The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different.’ ‘In this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner’” (CCC, 1367).

Conversing with Christ: Lord Jesus, I am in awe of your mother and her generous “yes” to your divine will. She was the queen mother of the royal Messiah, yet considered herself a lowly handmaiden. Help me to have that same humility as I say “yes” to your will today.

Living the Word of God: We venerate Mary today because of her faith, because she believed in God and trusted in his Word: “Blessed is she who believed.” We humbly ask her today to intercede with her Son, before the heavenly throne of God’s grace, so that we may imitate her faith, humility, and total self-offering.