Feast of the Annunciation

The angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,

of the house of David,

and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

~Luke 1:26-28

The Angel said, "Nothing is impossible to God."  Mary could understand this, she knew it.  She knew it because she lived it.  She was surprised at nothing, prepared for everything.  She lived in a state of continual wonder at the all-loving power of God.  It was precisely because she dared to believe that she dared to give up everything, or rather that it never occurred to her to let herself be bound by anything.  Mary was ready for anything because she had given all.  She had established herself resolutely in those serene regions where love victorious reigns.  With a daring greater than that of all the conquerors put together, she had fixed her gaze on the summit of the heavens, and all her life she was illuminated by the light of certainty.

She became Mother of the Word Incarnate, and her Son would be called the Son of the Most High, and he would reign on the throne of David and of his kingdom there would be no end.  She put herself wholly into this perspective of final, absolute triumph, and we see her always in a golden light.  She believed, not with a timid faith in tune with the weaknesses and vicissitudes of our present life, but with a faith in harmony with the awesome ardors of the infinite.  She had seen the reign of the Spirit of her Son, and in her serenity she was in no need of patience while waiting till the sparks led at last to the blaze of glory.

~Mother Marie des Douleurs on the Annunciation