March 25, 2025

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Lectionary 545

Luke 1: 26-38:

Meditation

Since the Church's earliest days, Mary has been seen as the first disciple of Jesus. Her vocation, like our own from our Baptism, was to accept God’s will and live out our shared mission to spread the good news of the Gospel every moment of every day. However, humans can forget that mission amid various events and preoccupations in our daily lives. We may lose focus on being children of God and instead concentrate too much on our own will.

At La Salette, Mary continues to carry out that shared mission. At her Annunciation, she echoes the angel's words by greeting the two children: “Come near, my children, do not be afraid.” She had experienced fear when the angel appeared, and she identified with the children who were afraid of her sudden appearance within a brilliant globe of light. Her words and attitude during the apparition were a mixture of warnings and promises, reminders and encouragement.

Mary’s concern for the daily lives of these two children even extended to the family of Maximin, whose father was seriously concerned about whether he could continue to feed his poor family. Her final words to the two children, which are extended to all those who hear her message, were: “Make this message known to all my people.”

She reminds us of the basics of our Baptismal call, namely, daily prayer, the vital place of Eucharist in our life, reverence for God’s name, a call to constant conversion, the proper place of Lenten customs of faith, and evangelizing others, reminding them of God’s love and forgiveness. This is our call as “her children”, the children of her loving Son.