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

Listening to the Spirit

Pour forth, we beseech you, O Lord, your grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ your Son was made known by the message of an Angel, may by his Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. AMEN

Listening to the Word

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. The virgin’s name was Mary. Coming to her, the angel 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.

Reflection

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

“Hail”, the greeting of the angel, means “REJOICE”, “BE HAPPY”. This is the first word of the angel to Mary. How many times we have listened to this Gospel. Once again…the first word is “rejoice”, “magalak ka” in Filipino. In this time of Pandemic, is there any reason to rejoice for?
Yes, there is: it is Christmas… God is with us. He is the Emmanuel!!

God, more than 2000 years ago, made a choice. He decided to leave the Temple, the place of His dwelling place, and to be with the people, among them. So, He became one of us. He became the Emmanuel: God with us! God continues dwelling the Temple, our Churches but He dwells as well as our families, our offices, our building sites, our road construction sites, our factories. HOW IS IT POSSIBLE? It happened 2000 years ago through a “Yes” of a girl. Mary was gifted with the Holy Spirit since her conception, but she was one of us. Like her, we have received too, through Baptism, the same Grace, the gift of the Holy Spirit. Because of her faith, because she could realize that God loved her, cared for her and she was willing and interested to listen to His Word, to follow His commands, she allowed God to dwell among us. Now it can happen again through us. We are the “temple” of God. Through baptism, we are “full of grace” like Mary and we are called to make space, to welcome in our life God, so that He can continue to be the Emmanuel, the God with us, among all his people.

IT IS UP TO US, AS MARY DID, TO HELP THE LORD INCARNATE HIMSELF IN THIS WORLD, IN OUR HOUSES AND STREETS, BY CARING FOR HIS WORD, HIS DREAMS, HIS MISSION.