Our Lady of the Rosary – Readings
26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”, 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Commentary on Acts 1:12-14; Luke 1:26-38
The Gospel reading from Luke is the account of the Annunciation, when Mary of Nazareth is asked by the Angel Gabriel to become the Mother of a child who will be the Son of God. Mary is quite taken aback by this request which she cannot reconcile with her present status. She is betrothed, that is, fully committed in marriage to Joseph, but they are not yet married and have not begun to live together. The angel assures Mary that the conception will take place by a special intervention through the Spirit of God.
Mary still does not fully understand, but putting her trust completely in the words of God’s Messenger, she accepts totally and unconditionally to the request:
Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.
And at that very moment, the awesome happening we call the Incarnation, the ‘en-flesh-ment’ of the Son of God took place in the womb of Mary. Nothing would ever be the same again in the history of the world.
The First Reading, from the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, shows the disciples of Jesus returning to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives after the Ascension. They went to the Upper Room where they had gathered with Jesus on the night before his Passion. All the Apostles are there with the obvious exception of Judas, who, overcome with guilt, had taken his own life.
But also among them were a number of women who had been companions of Jesus and among them was Mary. She would be with them, too, when the power of the Spirit of Jesus would come down on them giving them their mission to continue the work that Jesus had begun, the work of establishing the Kingdom of God on earth.
Today’s celebration invites all of us to meditate and pray on the events in Jesus’ life, following the example of Mary who was so specially involved with all of these events through her unique participation in the bringing the Son of God to live and work among us as one of us. We will identity with the Joyful, Sorrowful, Glorious and Light mysteries of his life, which is the Source of our own life.
