He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High

Is 7,10-14; Ps 39; Heb 10,4-10; Lk 1,26-38
25 MARCH

Who is outside the Gospel, who lives in a different way from it will always speak badly of the Gospel. Today people speak many times and in different ways badly of the Gospel. They speak badly of passage of the Annunciation when it is said that the Virgin Mary has not been visited by any Angel and that everything is the result of her heart and imagination. In this case she would have imagined herself full of grace, full of God and abode of her Creator. She would have thought of herself with the very special vocation of Mother of the Son of the Most High. Finally she would have asked the question to which she herself would have given the answer. She thinks of being Virgin and Mother, Mother and Virgin. Without any notice she thinks that Elizabeth is about to become a mother, despite her advanced age. She replies and declares herself the servant of the Lord, letting every word she heard to be fulfilled in her. But how might a word only imagined be fulfilled?

As it can be seen, the beauty of the story of the Annunciation contains elements so foreign to the heart and mind of a man so as to result impossible to imagine, invent and think. Not even the most fervid minds in processing and the invention of facts and events can conceive of such a thing. Not even the most enlightened science fiction writer could have created such a story. We are far beyond human possibilities. No human mind could have thought of his person full of grace and no woman could have imagined a conception of God through the work of God in her bosom. It must necessarily be concluded for the truth of the annunciation. Actually the Angel Gabriel manifested himself and he actually told the Virgin every Word reported by the story. Reading the story differently is betraying it in its historical truth. All future history attests the truth of what happened in the house of Nazareth. The human mind can also imagine. But never the imagination becomes reality, history and surpasses history itself, because it becomes eternity. It is history, the fruit of this proclamation, which attests to the truth of the story. What the Angel says to Mary was accomplished yesterday, it is fulfilled today, it is accomplished forever and ever. The Son of God that is conceived, born of Mary, is the king with the eternal kingdom.

In the sixth month, 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, favoured one! 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 favour 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 Annunciation is true, not because it is true in the heart and mind of the virgin Mary. It is true because it is true in Christ and throughout his history. It is true in us and in everyone who believes in Him. It is true for every time and place. It is true on earth and is true in eternity. Truth is only of the Word of God, never of man’s imagination. This is why those who deny the historicity of the Annunciation are in great error. They are in error because God always showed himself when he wanted to do his works of salvation. Otherwise we must say that also Abraham, Moses  and the Prophets have imagined every Word that God has addressed to them. Even Christ is imagination of himself. Since neither death by crucifixion and nor the glorious resurrection are imagination, everything must be declared historical truth.

Mother of God, Angels and Saints, do not allow us to deny the truth of the Gospel.