**I. Upon entering the world, the Lord 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 intimate mystery of God’s relationship with mankind, and the most transcendental moment in human history: God becomes man, and does so forever! And yet, this event took place in a small village in a country practically unknown in its time. In Nazareth, "He who is true God is born as true man, without lacking anything in the integrity of His human nature, preserving the totality of the essence that is His own and assuming the totality of our human essence... to restore it."
Saint Luke narrates this supreme event with utmost simplicity: *In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.* Popular piety has long depicted Holy Mary recollected in prayer when she receives the angel’s message: *Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.* Our Mother was troubled by these words, but with a disturbance that did not leave her paralyzed. She knew the Scriptures well through the instruction every Jew received from an early age and, above all, through the clarity and insight granted by her incomparable faith, her deep love, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, she understood the message of God's envoy. Her soul was completely open to what God was about to ask of her.
The angel hastens to reassure her and reveals the Lord’s design 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; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.*
> "The messenger greets Mary, in effect, as 'full of grace': he calls her this as if it were her true name. He does not address her by the name found in the civil registry, Miryam (Mary), but by this new name: 'full of grace.' What does this name mean? Why does the archangel call the Virgin of Nazareth this?
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> In the language of the Bible, 'grace' means a special gift which, according to the New Testament, has its own 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 them a title, He destines them for something new or reveals their true mission in the history of salvation. Mary is called "full of grace"—most favored—by reason of her Divine Motherhood.
The angel's announcement reveals to Mary her own task in the world, the key to her entire 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—in the Angelus—many Christians throughout the world remind our Mother of this moment, ineffable for her and for all humanity; we do the same when we contemplate the first Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary. Let us try to enter into that scene and contemplate Holy Mary as she embraces God's holy will with loving piety. "How enchanting is the scene of the Annunciation. Mary—how many times have we meditated on this!—is recollected in prayer... she puts her five senses and all her faculties in dialogue with God. In prayer, she knows the Divine Will; and through prayer, she makes it the life of her life: do not forget the example of the Virgin!"