The Annunciation of the Lord

Tomorrow (March 25th) we celebrate the Annunciation of our Lord. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains to us that, The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates "the fullness oftime," the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations. Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the "whole fullness of deity" would dwell "bodily." The divine response to her question, "How can this be, since I know not man?" was given by the power of the Spirit: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you." (CCC 484)

In the Annunciation, the Archangel Gabriel announced God's plan for Mary to become the Mother of God. Mary questioned the Archangel, "How can this be since I do not know Man?" Then the Archangel responded by saying that the conception of Jesus would be of divine origin; in other words, the Holy Spirit would overshadow her. Mary responded, "Yes, Thy will be done." (By pronouncing her "fiat" at the Annunciation and giving her consent to the Incarnation, Mary was already collaborating with the whole work her Son was to accomplish. She is mother wherever he is Savior and head of the Mystical Body. [CCC 973])


This simple response is a powerful testimony to the perfection of Mary's spiritual life. Indeed, God endowed Mary with many special privileges, graces, and attributes because she was to be the mother of God; however, it was her humility and obedience to the Father that is the hallmark testimony of her faith. Disobedience of Adam and Eve brought sin into this world, and it was the obedience of the new Eve (Mary) and the new Adam (Jesus) that brought about redemption and salvation. This perfection of Mary is an example for any faithful follower of her Son to practice, "Not my will, but Thy will be done."



[1] The New Rosary in Scripture. Edward Sri. Servant
[2] Catechism of the Catholic Church

{The mystery of Christ begins with the Annunciation to Mary on March 25th, and nine months from that date brings us to December 25th!}

Mary: Mother of God and Our Mother

Catholics honor Mary because God has honored her. God has given Mary the highest honor that is possible for a human person. Are we speaking of the honor that God bestowed on her when he took human nature from her flesh and dwelt in her womb? Actually, no. There's another reason why Catholics honor Mary. Do you remember in the Gospel of Luke , when a woman cried out to Jesus, "Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!" Jesus replied - "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it." (Luke 11:27-28)

We honor Mary above all because of her faith and total submission to God's will and plan. When the angel Gabriel appeared to her and announced that she was to be the mother of "the Son of the Most High," who would inherit the throne of King David and rule forever, Mary did not doubt, even though she was a virgin. She replied, "I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38). For this response of total faith, the Holy Spirit inspired her cousin Elizabeth to tell Mary, "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Luke 1:45). The Lord honors Mary because she, above all people, heard the Word of God and kept it.

After her cousin Elizabeth had praised her, Mary in turn directed all the praise and glory to God: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, . . . for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name" (Luke 1:46-49). This great hymn of praise to God, Mary's Magnificat, expresses perfectly her heart and her attitude.

Catholics see Mary as one of God's greatest gifts to the Church. Mary is a model for all Christians. Mary lived her whole life in perfect obedience to God, by faith in God, wholeheartedly responding to God's grace and call. She is a model of discipleship (following Jesus), a model of faith and a model of the Church, expressing all that God calls the Church to be and to do.

[1] Catholic and Christian for Young Adults. Alan Schreck, PH.D. pg 137-138.

McCain Carries Catholic Medals

I found this article on one of my few blogs that I try to read daily. Hat tip to the Catholic Knight.

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"It has been revealed that John McCain, though not himself Catholic, regularly carries around Catholic medals - particularly Our Lady's Miraculous Medal and one of the Blessed Mother Teresa. Even though the Senator from Arizona is a Southern Baptist, he was raised Episcopalian, and apparently the Catholic faith and value system have some appeal to him.Last summer, John McCain made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico. There he was blessed by Monsignor Monroy. Since then McCain has backed away from his previous support of embryonic stem-cell research and has promised a pro-life administration if elected President of the United States.

The following is an account of Senator McCain's Catholic medals from Eduardo Verastegui, producer and lead actor of the 2007 American film Bella....

“I said more than 45 million babies have been killed by abortion in America and more than 200,000 Latino babies are killed by abortion each year. I told everyone that we need to put an end to this and, when I finished, I went to John McCain and I said, ‘Senator, thank you for your commitment to life. I’d like to give you something.’ I gave him a Miraculous Medal blessed by Pope Benedict XVI and he was amazing. He said, ‘Thank you so much! Look what I have here in my pocket.’

Then Sen. McCain took a medal out of his pocket that he carries everywhere and it was a Blessed Mother Teresa medal. He said, ‘Eduardo, now I am going to keep both.’Verastegui also gave McCain’s wife, Cindy, a Miraculous Medal. He said, “I was touched when I found out that the McCains adopted one of their daughters from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in India. There is nothing more beautiful than to give children homes with families who will love them. I hope that one day that I can do the same.”

Read the full article here.

Christ and His Mother

To know a little more about the relationship between Christ and his mother we have to fully understand who Christ is. It’s very important that we do not see Christ as something changeable or inferior. As Christians, we believe that Christ was not created because if he had been created, something (which created him) was superior, thus the Church has always taught us that Christ was uncreated –‘begotten, not made.’ We should all recognize that The Creator became a creature. As St. Augustine says, “He whom the world could not contain was contained in a mother’s womb.”

With all this said I would like to ask, ‘What would you do if you were able to choose your own mother, and how would you create her?’ Catholic Author F.J. Sheed couldn’t have explained it any better:
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“. . . In seeing what the difference is, a good starting point is the simple fact that this son existed before his mother. So that he is the only Son who was in a position to choose who his mother should be; he could choose therefore what every son would choose if he could, the mother who would suit him best. Further, it goes with the very heart of sonship that a son wants to give his mother gifts; and Christ, being God, could give her all that she would want. To his giving power there was no limit. And what above all she wanted was union with God, the completest union possible to a human being of her will with God’s will, grace therefore in her soul.

He was her Son, and he gave it lavishly. She responded totally, so that she was sinless. It was her response to the grace of God that made her supreme in holiness – higher even that the highest angel, the Church tells us. We may pause for a moment to look at this truth. . .”

[1] Theology for Beginners. F. J. Sheed. Servant Books. Chapter 15, pg. 128.

The Assumption

Last Wednesday, we celebrated The Assumption of Our Blessed Lady. Anxious as I was, I found no difficulty waking up at 6 am so that I wouldn’t miss the 7 o’clock service (Yes, I was that anxious!). Here’s a brief summary of some of the simple facts I’ve recently learned about The Assumption.

In the dogma, the word assumption means the taking of Our Lady, body and soul, into heaven. Some of you might even be a little surprise (just as I was) to learn that The Assumption is earlier than the belief that she was conceived immaculate. Now, I may not have a lot of books on The Assumption, or claim that The Assumption is explicitly taught in the Bible, but one thing that I think is clear to all of us, is the relationship between The Assumption and Church history. Churches have been named after the Assumption for the past millennium and a half. In fact, for 1500 years The Assumption never raised any serious questions, problem, or doubt, among Catholics. Neither Jerome, Origen, Athanasius, Ambrose, nor Augustine contested Epiphanius in what he had written regarding Mary's miraculous passing, and Ephraem described Mary as having been glorified by Christ and carried through the air to heaven [1]. You can’t ignore the beauty of Church History.

To truly understand Our Blessed Lady we must depend totally on our understanding of her Son. When we achieve that, I myself can’t help but notice that everything which flows from her, comes from her being Christ’s mother. So, as our understanding of him grows, our understanding of her grows. Understanding Christ makes it simple to recognize that Christ would want his mother with him in heaven, and not just her soul alone, but body and soul.

In heaven, she represents the human race redeemed; she alone is body and soul, where all the saved will one day be. It is a doctrine of the Church that all men would receive back the bodies from which their souls had been separate at death. That gap between was a result of sin, and Our Lady was sinless [2].

[1] Cf. Ephraem, De nativitate domini sermo 12, sermo 11, sermo 4; Opera omni syriace at latine, Vol. 2, 415
[2] Sheed, Theology for Beginners. pgs 130-131