For the Solemnity of the Annunciation, I would like to cite some words from Pope Leo XIV's homily for the Marian feast on January 1. On both these days "we celebrate the mystery of Mary’s divine motherhood. By her 'yes,' she helped give a human face to the source of all mercy and benevolence: the face of Jesus...
"One of the fundamental features of God’s face [is] the complete gratuity of his love... God presents himself to us 'unarmed and disarming,' as naked and defenseless as a newborn in a cradle. He does this to teach us that the world is not saved by sharpening swords, nor by judging, oppressing or eliminating our brothers and sisters. Rather, it is saved by tirelessly striving to understand, forgive, liberate and welcome everyone, without calculation and without fear.
"This is the face of God that Mary allowed to take shape and grow within her womb, completely transforming her life. It is the face she proclaimed through the joyful yet delicate light of her eyes while bearing him in her womb; the face whose beauty she contemplated daily in her home as Jesus grew as a child, boy and young man; and the face she followed with the heart of a humble disciple, as he walked the paths of his mission, all the way to the cross and the resurrection. To do so, she too laid aside every defense, renouncing expectations, claims and comforts – as mothers so often do – consecrating her life without reserve to the Son she had received by grace, so that she might, in turn, give him back to the world.
"In Mary’s divine motherhood, then, we see the meeting of two immense, 'unarmed' realities: that of God, who renounces every privilege of his divinity to be born in the flesh (cf. Philippians 2:6-11), and that of a human person who, trustingly and fully, embraces God’s will. In a perfect act of love, she offers him the greatest power she possesses: her freedom."
#Annunciation
