🤰Celebrated with singular devotion in the Iberian Peninsula and in various religious orders, the Feast of the Expectation of the Childbirth, liturgically established on December 18 by the X Council of Toledo in the year 656, contemplates the sacred longing of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the days preceding the birth of the Savior. Also popularly known as "Our Lady of O," due to the Great Antiphons sung at Vespers starting on the 17th, which begin with the interjection "O," this commemoration exalts the hope and joyful expectation not only of Mary but of the entire Church awaiting Redemption. It is the moment when the Pregnant Virgin becomes the living tabernacle of God, concentrating within herself all the prophecies of the Old Testament and the adoring silence before the mystery of the Incarnation about to be visibly revealed to the world.
📜Introit (Is 45, 8 | Ps. 18, 2)
Roráte, cœli, désuper, et nubes pluant justum: aperiátur terra, et gérminet Salvatórem. Ps. Cœli enárrant glóriam Dei: et ópera mánuum ejus annúntiat firmaméntum.
Drop down dew, ye heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain the Just: let the earth be opened, and bud forth a Savior. The heavens show forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.
📜Lesson (Is 7, 10-15)
In those days, the Lord spoke to Achaz, saying: Ask thee a sign of the Lord thy God, either unto the depth of hell, or unto the height above. And Achaz said: I will not ask, and I will not tempt the Lord. And he said: Hear ye therefore, O house of David: Is it a small thing for you to be grievous to men, that you are grievous to my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and his name shall be called Emmanuel. He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.
✝️Gospel (Lk 1, 26-38)
At that time, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. And of his kingdom there shall be no end. And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren: Because no word shall be impossible with God. And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word.
🕯️The living tabernacle of the divine promise
🙇The liturgy of this day inserts us into the profound mystery of Mary's fruitful silence, awaiting the imminent fulfillment of the divine promise. The Introit cries out "Rorate cœli," asking the heavens to rain down the Just One like dew, and Mary is the blessed earth that opens to bring forth the Savior, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah read in the Epistle. Saint Augustine teaches us that Mary's greatness lies not only in her physical motherhood but in her total adherence to God's will, for "she conceived Christ in her mind by faith before conceiving him in her womb" (Sermon 215). The Gospel of the Annunciation, re-read from the perspective of the expectation of childbirth, reveals that Mary's "fiat" was not an isolated act, but a continuous state of surrender that transformed her being into the new Ark of the Covenant. As the Catechism reminds us, the Virgin's prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan, and her expectation becomes the model for the Church that longs for definitive union with Christ. On this day, we are invited to imitate the "Full of Grace," preparing a place in our souls so that the Word may be spiritually incarnated in us, rejecting evil and choosing the good, as prophesied about Emmanuel, so that, fertilized by the Holy Spirit, we may bring forth the works of divine justice in the world.
🇺🇸See English version of the critical articles here.
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