We
are already very close to Christmas. Now the prophecy of Isaiah will be
fulfilled: A Virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and His name will be
Emmanuel, which means "God with us".
The Hebrew people were familiar with the prophecies that pointed to the descendants of Jacob, through David, as the bearers of the messianic promises. But they could not have imagined so much: the Messiah was to be God himself made man.
When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman. And this woman, chosen and predestined from all eternity to be the Mother of the Savior, had consecrated her virginity to God, renouncing the honor of counting the Messiah among her direct descendants. I was predestined from all eternity," says the Book of Proverbs, foreshadowing Our Lady, "from the beginning, before the earth was.
There are many fruits that we can obtain in these days with the treatment and love of Our Lady. She herself tells us: Like a vine I have put forth beautiful branches, and my blossoms have borne tasty and rich fruit. I am the mother of love, fear, knowledge and holy hope.
Come to me, all you who desire, and be satisfied with my fruits. For to remember me is sweeter than honey, and to possess me is richer than honeycomb4.
Mary appears as the virginal Mother of the Messiah, who will give all her love to Jesus, with an undivided heart, as the prototype of the surrender that the Lord will ask of many.
When the fullness of time came, God sent the Archangel Gabriel to Nazareth, where the Virgin lived. Popular piety presents Mary recollected in prayer as she listens attentively to God's plan for her, her vocation: Hail, full of grace, the Angel tells her.... as we read in the Gospel of today's Mass.
And Our Lady gives her full assent to God's will: Let it be done to me according to your word. From that moment she accepts and begins to fulfill her vocation; this vocation consists in being Mother of God and Mother of mankind.
The center of humanity, without knowing it, is in the small town of Nazareth. There is the most beloved woman of God, the one who is also the most beloved in the world, the most invoked of all times. In the intimacy of our heart, now, in our personal prayer, we say to her: Mother, blessed are you among women!
Because of her Motherhood, she was surrounded by all the graces and privileges that made her a worthy dwelling place of the Most High. God chose his Mother and placed in her all his Love and his Power. He did not allow her to be touched by sin: neither original nor personal. She was conceived Immaculate, without stain. And He granted her so many graces "that no greater could be conceived below God, and that no one, apart from God, could ever comprehend". Her dignity is almost infinite.
All privileges and graces were given to him to fulfill his vocation. As in every person, her vocation was the central moment of her life: she was born to be the Mother of God, chosen by the Most Blessed Trinity from eternity.
She is also our Mother, and in these days we want to remind her of this many times. With an ancient prayer, which we make our own, we can say to her: Remember, Virgin Mother of God, when you stand before the Lord, to tell him good things about me.