When the Lord entered the world, he said: I come, O God, to do your will
The Annunciation and Incarnation of the Son of God is the most marvelous and extraordinary event, the most endearing mystery of God's relationship with mankind and the most transcendental in the history of humanity: God becomes man and forever! And yet this event took place in a small town in a country practically unknown at the time. In Nazareth, "the one who is true God is born as true man, lacking nothing in the integrity of his human nature, preserving the totality of the essence that is proper to him and assuming the totality of our human essence... to restore it "
St. Luke narrates this supreme event with the utmost simplicity: In the sixth month an angel was sent to a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary3 . Popular piety has represented since ancient times Saint Mary recollected in prayer when she received the angel's message: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Our Mother was disturbed at these words, but with a disturbance that did not leave her paralyzed. She knew the Scriptures well because of the instruction that every Jew received from his early years and, above all, because of the clarity and penetration given to her by her incomparable faith, her deep love and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. That is why he understood the message of the one sent by God. Her soul is completely open to what God is going to ask of her. The angel hastens to reassure her and reveals to her the Lord's plan for her, her vocation: "You have found favor with God," he tells her, "you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; the Lord will give him the throne of his father David, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.
"The messenger indeed greets Mary as full of grace: he calls her thus as if this were her true name. He does not call his interlocutor by the name that is proper to her in the civil register, Miryam (Mary), but by this new name: full of grace. What does this name mean? Why does the archangel call the Virgin of Nazareth in this way?
"In the language of the Bible, grace means a special gift which, according to the New Testament, has its source in the Trinitarian life of God himself, of God who is love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8)". Mary is called full of grace because this name designates her true being. When God changes someone's name or gives him a nickname, he assigns him to something new or discovers his true mission in the history of salvation. Mary is called full of grace, most gracious, because of her divine Maternity.
The angel's announcement reveals to Mary her own task in the world, the key to her whole existence. The Annunciation was for her a most perfect illumination that reached her whole life and made her fully aware of her exceptional role in the history of humanity. "Mary is definitively introduced into the mystery of Christ through this event "
Every day - at the Angelus - many Christians throughout the world remind Our Mother of this ineffable moment for her and for all humanity; also when we contemplate the first joyful mystery of the Holy Rosary. Let us try to immerse ourselves in that scene and contemplate Holy Mary embracing with loving piety the holy will of God. "How enchanting the scene of the Annunciation. Mary - how many times have we meditated on it! - is recollected in prayer..., she puts her five senses and all her powers to speak with God. In prayer she knows the divine Will; and with prayer she makes it the life of her life: do not forget the example of the Virgin!"