March 25, 2025 - Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Artist Sister Mary of the Compassion, OP (1908-1977)

The Annunciation of the Lord is the moment when “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1:14). Though we celebrate the Incarnation of the Lord on Christmas, we do well to celebrate it also on this day.  In this sense, the Nativity is more of an epiphany, a manifestation, than the day of the Son of God becoming human, which we celebrate today, nine months before Christmas. 

This is so helpful to remember in our time and place when the defense of the unborn is of paramount importance in our Catholic Christian mission. When speaking of the Incarnation in homilies, even if in passing, I try to make this point about the Annunciation marking the Incarnation of the Lord. 

Defending this truth is not easy.  “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” (Matthew 20:22).  It is very difficult to stand up and be counted when talking with our friends, colleagues and coworkers. 

Neither was it easy for Mary to say yes to the Holy Spirit through the angel. Imagine the situation: surely she had a vision for the next steps of her life, and the angel suddenly interrupted those plans. She said yes to a special relationship with God that would turn her life upside down, and the Archangel did not supply many details.  “Behold,” she replied, “I am the handmaid of the Lord.  May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). 

In saying this, Mary consented to so much that was beyond what she could have imagined.  She knew that her life was no longer her own.  Though in the purity of her immaculate heart she had surely already known that on one level, she now knew that her life would be completely different. She probably had questions to ask in the way that concerns arise for us following, say, a doctor’s appointment, when we are already in the car on the way home and cannot ask for clarification: immediately after her fiat, her yes, “the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38). 

“Can you drink the cup…?” (Mark 10:38). Mary did.  She did so without knowing the contours of the road on which it would lead her.  She trusted. 

So did Joseph “when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that his child has been conceived in her’” (Matthew 1:20).  Joseph, too, was called to trust, to “drink the cup,” and he did so gracefully. 

To “drink the cup” is to share in Jesus’ Passion, by yielding to the will of the Holy Trinity which stretches us beyond our powers of imagination, and then by consenting to the particulars as they become known.  It is also the door to the fullness of life Jesus promises (John 10:10), for “after three days he will rise” (Mark 10:34). 

May your grace not forsake us, O Lord, we pray, but make us dedicated to your holy service and at all times obtain for us your help. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. (Roman Missal)

Rev. Msgr. Gerard McCarren, Rector/Dean, and Associate Professor of Systematic Theology

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