Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Daily Readings for Lent
Today's readings: March 25, 2010
First Reading: Is 7:10-14; 8:10;
Responsorial Psalm: 40:7-8a, 8b-9, 10, 11 ;
Second Reading: Heb 10:4-10;

Gospel: Lk 1:26-38 ;

And here's an audio file and a video of a priest offering reflections.

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  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   Lk 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.

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Commentary: The first chapter of Luke is chock full of interesting stories. One of the them concerns the line - How can this be? which is uttered by Mary, and also John the Baptist's father Zechariah. In each case, the audience is the archangel Gabriel. But while the words are the same, Gabriel's reaction is totally different. He listens to Mary and answers her question with sweetness. But the response to Zechariah is totally different. He is not offered the sweet answer, instead - he is made mute for the remainder of his wife's pregnancy and Gabriel leaves in a huff. Why? The intent of the heart. When Mary asked, she didn't understand and her words were offered in humility and tenderness. Zechariah was saying the words with a tone of - no way, this is a load of donkey doo. The same words - but the intent of the heart was known in the tone. Don't be too upset for Zechariah - that multiple month quiet time changed his heart, and when his son is born, we get the beautiful words he says to his baby boy called the Canticle of Zechariah, or the Benedictus. This prayer is said every day by priests, nuns and religious - first thing in the morning. It is also the favorite part of the Bible of a dear friend of mine who has been a priest for 35+ years. So, I wrote a song to the words from the canticle, and gave him a CD for Christmas a few years back. There are two versions in the archives - with a lot of time between recordings. You can find tone in the earlier version. When I sing it now, a year later from the last version, it is ridiculously more rocking and joyful. Ha, funny how that is.

Added a gallery of some of my favorite paintings related to the Annunciation, including Da Vinci, Del Sarto, Fra Lippi, El Greco, Perugino, Costa, Tanner, and Raphael to name a few.

also - I re-recorded another song which recalls the moment of the Archangel Gabriel's Ave to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The song has some very, very old words (1st or 2nd century AD i think) - Redemptrix Mater, also known as Mother of the Redeemer. To check out some other songs from this year - go here, or last year, here.