Homily for 25 March 2021 by Fr. Gerard Jonas
Solemnity of the Lord’s Annunciation “Thy Will Be Done”
Isaiah 7:10-14,8:10; Psalm 40; Heb 10:4-10; Lk1:26-38
Stars were the GPS for sailors of long ago. Mary, regarded by the Church as the Stella Matutina, the Star of the Morning, is our GPS in our life in God.
Luke succinctly presents Mary as a model and guide in relating with the Triune God. With God the Father, Mary is a handmaid, a docile servant. With Jesus, Mary is a mother. And with the Holy Spirit Mary is a spouse. Mary’s assent to the Angel’s Annunciation of the divine invitation marks the very moment of the Incarnation. Mary’s “Yes” signals the breaking of the dawn of humankind’s salvation. She is the active instrument of God’s incarnation as the Son of God takes flesh in her and through her.
Her fiat, “Be it done unto me” sets in motion great obedience. This collusion of the divine and human will advances God’s agenda. The Son of God’s humblest moment happens in Mary’s womb at that very moment. The Son of God becomes the Son of Man in taking the human flesh of God’s own creature. The Son of God becomes Emmanuel, ever-present with His people. The same “Thy will be done” is how Jesus would teach his disciples to pray and be in the presence of God the Father. It is by this way of obedience to the Father’s will that Jesus enters, lives out, and eventually leaves His human presence when it is again echoed at his final moments at Gethsemane, “Not my will but Your will be done.”
The Angel Gabriel at the Annunciation first affirmed that Mary is full grace, highly favored by God. She is edified by God’s grace and prepared to say yes to the will of God then and from then on. She is set to participate in the life of the Son of God through all his human presence in the world that started in her womb at that moment.
Mary, the Star of the Morning, shows us the way to live out life, how to respond to God’s call, our vocation in life. It is through the life of docility and obedience. It is only then and always then do we participate in God’s life in us and for us. Mary shows the way how to advance God’s agenda.
Today, on this Solemnity of the Annunciation, the hidden first moment of the Incarnation in Mary’s immaculate womb, let us pray for Mary’s intercession that through our docility and obedience as monks, we too may be generative of the monastic tradition of seeking God, and as Christians, we may be generative of Christ’s presence at all times.
