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Gospel: 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.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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The Gospels do not deal directly with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Although today’s passage tells us of Christ’s conception, what we celebrate today is actually Mary’s.
Catholics believe that she was born without Original Sin, making her a worthy dwelling place for Christ in the womb. For nine precious months, she served as God’s tabernacle on earth.
As the archangel Gabriel foretells today, “Hail, full of grace!” Gabriel is not the one imparting grace to Mary; he is acknowledging who she already is.
Full of grace.
The favored one.
The worthy – and potential – ark of the new covenant.
This is why Mary is able to surrender freely and joyfully to his proposal, because she bears no sin in her heart. Her entire being is dedicated to God. As she herself says, “My soul magnifies the Lord.”
This mysterious story of an angel tearing open the veil of heaven and coming down to earth raises further questions: How was Mary born without Original Sin? Where did this singular grace come from?
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The answer to these questions only brings us deeper into the shroud of mystery. Mary was full of grace – and free of Original Sin – because of the grace that will flow from the Cross.
Thus, when Gabriel praises her, he praises Mary for being in possession of something that will happen in the future…
Let that sink in.
It’d be like me walking into the locker room of the LA Dodgers before game seven started, congratulating them for winning the World Series.
But, as the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, “My ways are not your ways.”
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Now Mary reigns as Queen of Heaven, perhaps a role she even intuited in that sacred encounter with Gabriel. As Queen, she serves as the most powerful intercessor in the halls of heaven.
This, too, was foretold.
In the Old Testament, the king’s mother was considered the second most powerful figure in the nation, next to the king himself. She was the one who spoke directly to her son’s heart, interceding on behalf of his subjects.
Thus, in heaven, Mary not only has direct access to Christ, but she also holds a maternal pull on his heart strings.
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As great as Mary is, she is a humble model for us all. Her life was sinless, leaving us an example to follow. As Saint Paul says in our second reading, “God chose us… before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”
In baptism, we are all washed from the curse of Original Sin. The rest of the Christian life involves living out the calling we received then – “to holy and blameless.”
As we move deeper into the Advent season, may our resolve be strengthened by Mary’s intercession that we, too, would be a worthy dwelling place for the Lord on earth.
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Image credits: (1) Dreamstime.com (2) The Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, Bartolomé Estebán Murillo, 1660 (3) Saint Anthony Shrine