25 March 2021
Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
The Annunciation find a natural home in our world during our pandemic times. I am sure we were all very similar in being glued to news outlets as our awareness of the pandemic’s impact and toll was just beginning to unfold. Vaccine development and distribution seemed like a faint glimmer on the horizon. It might have been dim in the nighttime of cancellations, separation, solitude, and even death of loved ones. Hope gave us an orientation to endure. While experiencing the limitations of the pandemic, we had to respond with generosity and magnanimity to keep others safe. The pandemic gives us an analogical entry point into the greater mystery of the Annunciation.
The world was created out of God’s generosity, and shared in the very goodness from its inception. Human sinfulness changes the world, and spreads like a virus infecting the minds and hearts of all human beings. Amidst God’s chosen people, God initiates the redemption of all peoples by taking in human nature into God’s very self. The promise of God is not only a future point on the horizon for which humanity waits. God draws near to us. Mary’s openness and generosity to God’s plan comes along with natural human wondering: “how can this be?” Her trust in God becomes an indispensable element and model for us all in the way in which the Lord draws near.
Amidst the pandemic, it is hard to trust that God has been drawing nearer. Everyone has borne a toll from the pandemic. We as a Church have to ask for the same trust that Mary had and the eyes to behold God. We offer the gift of pointing to God’s movement in the world for all who have to see God’s continuing activity for our behalf. For seeing ourselves will lead to us proclaiming Jesus all the more boldly in our world. While the Annunciation is an event in salvation history, it is also a role for the Church to announce the Gospel of Christ and the God who comes closer to us than we could possibly imagine.
How have you felt the hope of the Lord draw near recently?