And the Word Became Flesh

With the eyes of faith, one sees that nothing is coincidence; everything of God is done with exact purpose, meaning, and love. One sees this reality in God's choosing of a date to become Incarnate. As March 25th often falls during the holy season of Lent, and sometimes even during Holy Week, God provides us with a point of contemplation. The Solemnity of the Annunciation amidst the season of Lent reminds us of the purpose of Our Lord's birth. As we are all born into this world to live, Christ was born to die - to die so that we might have eternal life. ​

This year the Annunciation also falls during Passiontide, during which statues and crucifixes are typically veiled, reminding of how our Lord hid His Divinity as His Passion approached. So too in the Annunciation is Our Lord's Divinity hidden from human eyes. God came into the world hidden from view for nine months, in the tabernacle of Mary's womb. Though He could not be seen, Our Lady adored her God within her. 

Let us ask Our Lady to take us to her side during that most sacred moment when God became Incarnate in her womb, when the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took flesh and dwelt within the most pure virgin. Sitting next to the Blessed Mother, let us ponder that Mystery and say with the Archangel Gabriel, "Hail! Full of Grace! The Lord is with Thee!"
​

"O Lux, Salutis Nuntia"
 Annunciation Hymn for Lauds

O day on which salvation dawned
You saw an angel visit earth,
When prophecies would be fulfilled,
Rejoicing over virgin birth.

For He Who with the Father dwells
Comes down to earth, Eternal Son, 
Who at His will would enter time
And choose a human mother's love.

He deigned to take the form of man
To reconcile our race with God,
By shedding Blood so innocent
That guilty man it could redeem.

O Truth, that once assumed our flesh,
And lay concealed by Virgin's veil
Before You walked on earth as Man,
Enrich us with your light divine.

Fair Virgin, who declared yourself
The lowly handmaid of the Lord,
From your bright throne in heaven's height,
Be now the Queen of Faithful souls. 

All glory, Jesus, be to you,
Once born of Virgin undefiled,
Who with the Spirit of your Love
And God the Father, ever reign. Amen. 
​

"We have here [in the Incarnation] the first mystery of Jesus Christ—the most hidden, the most exalted, and the least known. It is in this mystery that Jesus, in His Mother’s womb, which is for that very reason called by the Saints the cabinet of the secrets of God, has, in concert with Mary, chosen all the elect It is in this mystery that He has wrought all the other mysteries of His life by the acceptance which He made of them, Jesus ingrediens mundum dicit, Ecce venio, ut faciam voluntatem tuam. Consequently this mystery is an abridgment of all mysteries, and contains the will and grace of all." 
- St. Louis Marie de Montfort, True Devotion