SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD - Gospel (Luke 1:26-38) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
- NHA CHUA CHA
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
FIRST READING - Is 7:10-14, 8:10
"The young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son."
A reading from the Book of Isaiah
10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as Sheol, or high as the sky![a] 12 But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!”[b] 13 Then he said: Listen, house of David! Is it not enough that you weary human beings? Must you also weary my God? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign;[c] the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him Emmanuel.
SECOND READING - Heb 10:4-10
"As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God."
A reading from the letter to the Hebrews
4 for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins. 5 For this reason, when he came into the world, he said:[a]
“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;6 holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.7 Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”
8 First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings,[b] you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. 9 Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. 10 By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 1:26-38
"Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son."
✠From the Gospel according to Luke
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And coming to her, he said, “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,[a] and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, 33 and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”[b] 35 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. 36 And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived[c] a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; 37 for nothing will be impossible for God.” 38 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.
SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD - Gospel (Luke 1:26-38)
THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE
Dear people of God
Today’s Word of God speaks of God sending the angel Gabriel to bring God’s Word to announce to a woman named Mary.
The message from God was as follows: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, and ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor 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 the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give Him the throne of David, His ancestor, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.’”
Blessed Mother Mary is the woman whom God, from all eternity, appointed within His plan of salvation.
God granted her four special privileges: the Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, Mother of God, and the Assumption of her body and soul into Heaven.
These four privileges were ordained for the Blessed Mother from all eternity.
The most exalted of these is that of being the Mother of God; even in giving birth, she remained a virgin.
This is a miracle, demonstrating that only the power of God can accomplish such a thing.
Apart from Him, no one can transform evil into good, and no one possesses the power to create something out of nothing.
From a human perspective, it is truly hard to believe that Blessed Mother Mary, a mere mortal, could become the Mother of God.
But through the mystery and power of God, He can do all things.
These are the privileges and the four dogmas of the Catholic Church that all are required to believe.
Blessed Mother Mary herself could not believe this was true: that God would place a fetus within her womb.
For deep within her heart, she knew that she had always preserved her virginity and purity in the sight of God, so how, then, could she have a child?
But God revealed to her that her pregnancy was brought about by the power of God: “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.”
This is a tremendous grace that no other woman has received except for Blessed Mother Mary alone.
It demonstrates that God is All-powerful, and He can do all things.
No one can fully comprehend God’s ways in His plan of salvation, or how the Mystery of the Holy Trinity is at work: that the Most High God would descend to earth and become human—who could believe it?
But through God’s mystery of salvation, it has come to pass.
It is all because of His love for humanity; He did not want mankind to suffer eternal death, nor to be held captive by Satan.
Therefore, He carried out His plan of salvation in a way that humanity could not fully comprehend; this is the Mystery of Love.
To enable humanity to grasp the mystery of redemption, God proves it through miracles, specifically the miracle of Elizabeth.
Though she was advanced in years and barren according to the ways of the world, yet, through the mystery of God’s plan, she conceived and gave birth to a son.
This is a mystery that transcends human understanding.
Furthermore, the Word of God speaks of the Blessed Mother Mary’s obedience and humility before God: she was completely obedient to His Divine Will, entrusting all things to Him and accepting the noble graces that come from Him.
Despite being a lowly and humble person, she entrusted herself completely to receive a monumental responsibility, that is, welcoming the Second Person of the Holy Trinity into her very womb.
She cooperated in God’s plan of salvation by conceiving, nurturing, and teaching the Second Person of the Holy Trinity here on earth, so that God’s plan of salvation might be perfectly fulfilled.
With the power and strength of God, He can do all things.
With the power of the Holy Trinity and His Word, and under the action of the Holy Spirit, God continues His plan of salvation after Jesus ascended into Heaven.
This is the age in which the Holy Spirit is at work.
The Holy Spirit is fluid, dynamic, and gradual, following God’s path of salvation.
In this new age, God sends angels down to earth to take on human form, which is truly hard to believe!
For everyone believes that only God Himself descended to earth, incarnating as a human being.
Yet, this reality has occurred, is occurring, and will continue to occur.
For God has ordained Thien Thuong, an angel of God has been appointed since time immemorial within His plan of salvation, to descend to earth to unite with a human being in accordance with a divine will dating back to time immemorial, to be born into this world, and loved, protected, and purified by Him.
At the appointed time, God selects and consecrates this person, bringing her into His plan to serve Him.
However, humanity must understand that both humans and angels are but God’s creation.
The angel Thien Thuong and the human Nguyen Chu Thien Thuong are two distinct creations, whom God, by His Divine power, has united to fulfill His plan, which is not the same as Jesus, who is God Himself incarnate as man.
Let us not be mistaken!
God chose the angel Thien Thuong to continue Jesus’ mission, the mission entrusted to the apostles and His Church, which is to cast out demons, to lay hands upon and heal the sick, and proclaim God’s plan of salvation.
To Thien Thuong alone, God entrusted a momentous mission of writing the Word of God, which is the Real Present Word that instructs humanity in daily life.
It is the Word that verifies for God’s children what comes from God and what comes from Satan, the Word that guides humanity to follow God’s true path in the Sanctification Plan of the Holy Spirit.
God reveals that, just as the Jewish people of the past could not believe that Jesus was the Son of God who came into the world to become human, and nor could they believe that the Blessed Mother Mary had given birth to the Son of God, so too does humanity and the Church today unable to believe that angels can descend to earth to incarnate as human beings, and that a human beings could give birth to angels.
But this is a truth that comes from God.
God has revealed to humanity that He has, is currently, and continues to send angels down to earth to take on human form to collaborate in His plan of salvation.
The works He is doing reveal a truth: when the angels descend to take on human form, it does not in any way diminish Jesus’ plan of salvation, but rather serves to continue it through the action of the Holy Spirit.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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