The feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady, traditionally celebrated on the 25th of March, marks the exact moment when the angel Gabriel announced to the Virgin Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Savior. This date was fixed in the universal Church from antiquity, being situated exactly nine months before the feast of Christmas, the birth of the Lord. The commemoration is not limited to a Marian honor, but is fundamentally a great Christological feast, celebrating the mystery of the Incarnation of the Divine Word in the most pure womb of the Virgin. Historically, the celebration became established in the East and the West between the 5th and 7th centuries, especially after the Council of Ephesus (431), which solemnly proclaimed Mary as Theotókos (Mother of God). The Annunciation is the central axis of human history, the sublime instant in which eternity enters time through the humble assent of a young woman, sealing the New Covenant and opening the doors to the redemption of all fallen humanity.
🎵 Introito (Sl 44, 13. 15-16; 44, 2)
Vultum tuum deprecabuntur omnes divites plebis: adducentur Regi virgines post eam: proximae ejus adducentur tibi in laetitia et exsultatione. Psalmus: Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum: dico ego opera mea Regi.
All the rich of the people with gifts beseech your gaze. The virgins who follow her are led to the King; her companions are presented to You in the midst of joy and exultation. Psalm: My heart exults with a joyful song: to the King I dedicate my works.
📖 Epístola (Is 7, 10-15)
In those days, the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying to him: Ask the Lord your God for a sign in the depths of the earth, or in the highest of the heavens. Ahaz answered: I will not ask such, nor will I tempt the Lord. Then Isaiah said: Listen, then, O house of David. Is it not enough for you to weary the patience of men, but you still dare to weary that of my God? Therefore He Himself will give you a sign. Behold, a Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and His name shall be Emmanuel. He shall take milk and honey, that He may know to condemn the evil and prefer the good.
✝️ Evangelho (Lc 1, 26-38)
At that time, the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, to a Virgin betrothed to a man who was called Joseph, of the house of David; and the name of the Virgin was Mary. Entering where she was, the Angel said to her: Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women. Hearing this, she was frightened and wondered what this greeting might mean. But the Angel said to her: Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace before God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of David, his father; and He will reign eternally in the house of Jacob and His Kingdom will have no end. Then Mary asked the Angel: How shall this be done, since I do not know man? The Angel answered her: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the Holy One who will be born of you will be called the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month of her who was called barren, because nothing is impossible with God. Then Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word.
🕊️ The fiat of the Virgin and the incarnation of the Word
The Annunciation of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary represents the definitive irruption of the supernatural order into creation, the instant in which the miracle surpasses all natural understanding. Saint Thomas Aquinas, in the Summa Theologica (Part III, Question 30, Article 1), teaches that the angelic messenger manifests the election of Mary as the singular instrument through which the Word becomes flesh. The greeting “full of grace” reveals not a transitory favor, but a permanent ontological state, preparing her to be the dwelling place of God. Hugh of Saint Victor (De Sacramentis, Book I, Part VI, Chapter 5) points out that Mary’s disturbance is the reflection of a deeply contemplative soul, which seeks to discern the heavenly mysteries within herself. The virginal conception wrought by the shadow of the Holy Spirit transcends the laws of human causality; it is the pure power of God making the impossible become real. The Virgin’s response, her fiat (“be it done to me”), is the act of perfect virtue, aligning the human will with the divine and opening the doors of salvation for humanity.
The Epistle of the prophet Isaiah illuminates this mystery by demonstrating that the plan of redemption permeates all history, uniting the promises of the Old Testament to their fulfillment in the New. The sign offered by God to the house of David — a Virgin who will conceive Emmanuel, “God with us” — is the supreme proof of the divine mercy that grows weary of waiting for men and acts directly in the world. The detail that the Child will take “milk and honey” attests to the true human nature assumed by the Second Person of the Trinity, which, as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux teaches (Sermons on the Song of Songs, Sermon 23), does not establish only an earthly reign, but an eternal spiritual dominion. The Incarnation unites the human and the divine without confusion, creating the hypostatic union necessary for humanity, fallen and distant, to be elevated back to its original dignity and to participation in the divine life.
The connection between the prophetic promise and the Marian consent finds its liturgical apex in the beauty of the Introit, which sings: “All the rich of the people with gifts beseech your gaze”. The immense humility and purity of Mary were the gifts that attracted the gaze and the descent of the King of kings into her womb. Because the Virgin believed and completely submitted to the promise of Isaiah, she not only conceived the Son of the Most High, but became the model and the door through which the Church enters into glory. Just as the Psalms sing, the “virgins who follow her” and her companions — who represent all of us, the redeemed faithful — are now led to the King in the midst of great joy and exultation. The divine Word dwelt among us because the humble handmaid of the Lord gave her assent, causing eternity to visit time and transforming human exile into the safe path to heaven.