Homily on the Feast of the Annunciation

Rome, 25 March 1996

The account of the annunciation to Mary of the birth of the Messiah is one of the most beautiful parts of St. Luke's Gospel. It relates a real fact and at the same time puts forward the sense of the history of humanity, which is our own. It is concerned not only with the past, but is also a key for reading the present.

But before going on to any application, let us pause for a few moments in contemplation, as though we were looking at a picture or panorama.

The story is built up with snatches from the Bible which recall ancient hopes, express the expectations of the time, and anticipate the dreams of man's salvation. All this is concentrated in Mary who in her person represents humanity called to receive God within it.

"Rejoice": this is a salutation used by the prophets when they addressed the Daughter of Zion, who was also a representative of humanity, and in particular of that portion which had made of God its inheritance and hope,

It is not just a conventional introduction, like our usual "Dear ...". It ensures the favourable will of God, bringing with it a proof that can be verified. Isaiah says: "Shout for joy, barren one who has borne no children! Break into cries and shouts of joy, you who were never in labour!"

"The Lord is with you" frequently appears when God calls to a mission; it is repeated in the narration of callings which involve an important task for salvation.

Again the phrase "nothing is impossible with God" was said to Sarah, the wife of Abraham, when she was desperate about her sterility, at the beginning of the generation of believers. It expresses God's decision to intervene in human affairs in favour of man, overcoming any limitations of nature or human liberty.

We are therefore facing the reality of an outstanding event. We are looking at a "vocation", a call to her who through such an circumstance was to be the mediatrix and human protagonist; one who in the first place was therefore asked to believe (and that is the most difficult part!), then accept the commitment, and then give her collaboration as her life went on.

There is in the annunciation an image of God, and a certain well discussed film has tried to explore it. It is interesting to see whether the image it finds coincides with our own image of God. Not the one we have because we have studied it in books, but the one we live within us and often apply unconsciously in our activities. God does not remain outside human history but works in its heart, precisely where events have their origin and become interwoven.

He sends an angel: i.e. he communicates with us and makes his designs known to us, not only (and perhaps not even mainly) through great organizations, but in the ordinary course of life: The angel comes to Nazareth, to a private house, to a young engaged woman experiencing the love of family and responsibility. As we see boys and girls around us we have to remember that communication with God is happening in their hearts as well.

The Annunciation is a meditation on humanity, especially on that part which is becoming aware of its own inability to attain happiness and is asking it of the Lord: they are the poor. This part of humanity is not only the object of God's compassion and generosity, but through its desires and expectations has the ability to welcome God who sets up with them a communion even at the present time, like that which was to be realized in the Incarnation. And it is also interesting to ask ourselves whether this vision of humanity shapes our thoughts and actions. God becomes conceived within the events of concern to humanity.

It is a vision of the Spirit, the same Spirit who hovered with love over the primitive chaos at the beginning of creation, who kept alive the fire of expectations and desires, moving the chosen people to their partial realization. His is the mysterious power which to the human eye seems sterile, limited or lost. And it is a matter of a fertility which is not common, which is highly valued and esteemed, from which the children of God draw their origin. This is an invitation to look at our faith again, in the action and strength of the Spirit. Just as a virgin can conceive a child, so our apparently sterile world is fertile through the Spirit with possibilities which exceed our wildest dreams.

It is a presentation of Jesus with an abundance of messianic names: "Great", Son of the Most High, Son of David: the flower of humanity and its greatest expression, the definitive word of God.

• The actors who play their parts in the annunciation are the ones who also appear in the facts which concern us personally as believers. This is why I said that the story reflects what happens to each of us and to the Church. The question may occur to us: what difference could there be between this account, so elaborate from a literary and religious standpoint, and the humble episode itself, hidden and perhaps externally very ordinary, in which the young Mary of Nazareth found herself involved?

The Gospel story is certainly not a fictional embellishment, nor is it just an edifying meditation, but it gives the true dimension of the event because it sees it in the light of its development after the Resurrection. It embraces what Mary could not understand at the time.

And so we are taught to live in faith the events in which we are involved, to understand that the future consequences of options we make does not depend on their grandeur or magnificence, but on the fact that they have within them the seed of eternity, which is the sense of God and adherence to his will.

• Artists, especially painters but not painters alone, have shown a preference for this scenario of the Annunciation. They always include it when they are presenting the story of salvation. But many of their efforts have left us with a feeling of exaggeration and detachment. Before their masterpieces, as before this scene in the Gospel, we are left unmoved and thoughtful.

We would like to scrutinize Mary's soul through the lines of her countenance portrayed so delicately by artists, to detect something beyond the spoken words and the external scene; we understand that what was most important and mysterious took place in the heart and mind of Mary, a young woman of marriageable age, which at that time meant somewhere between thirteen and fifteen years.

Her conversation with the angel, whether it be seen as a revelation, vision, something she heard or only internal inspiration, is something private and hidden. The consequences begin to unravel afterwards and they reach even to us.

One of them is her reading of history, expressed in the Magnificat, precisely in the light of this personal event. It is the story of a poor and humble people whose vicissitudes are not found written in the books of great empires. But they will be more decisive and powerful than the great powers. Following on her conception came her motherhood and the education of Jesus. In these the contemplation and understanding of human events is continually enriched. Then Christ followed his own path, acquired his autonomous dimension which led to the realization of the redemption, precisely as God the Father had said at the Annunciation.

Our active life, be it consecrated or lay, leads to tension between internal and external activity, personal response and the transformation of reality, contemplation and service. These things are a challenge to us, and often a temptation as well. We always want to do more, and little by little we begin to put our trust in the means and activities, which begin to leave us internally empty, unless we link ourselves continually with the starting point from which we draw strength and significance: God's invitation to collaborate with him.

The Annunciation reminds us of the priority of what is internal. Nothing is produced outside themselves by man or woman unless it has first been conceived and accepted interiorly. Thoughts, feelings, desires, projects and events are elaborated in our heart. There is to be found God's sanctuary, and from that sanctuary Mary confesses her virginity, her availability, her acceptance. It is the moment of listening and enlightenment, not only in the sense of piety, but also as regards the best method of understanding apostolic action: it is attention, study and deeper analysis.

It is there that the Spirit is at work with his grace which renders Mary interiorly Mother of the Word, who is conceived in her soul before being conceived in her womb. Significant is that representation of the Annunciation which shows Mary kneeling and attentively reading the Scriptures. She is concentrating peacefully and absorbing the words. The expression on her face shows she accepts them and rejoices. And from this flows her openness to the future.

At the words of the angel she expresses those perplexities and difficulties which we too shall manifest; that what is asked for is not possible. They are too fine and great, because they are measured by God's standard. But when she understands that it is God who asks it, she believes and gets down to work.

Dear brother and sisters, Salesians and lay people, in everyone's life there is an annunciation; indeed there may be many of them linked together, which invite us to make some innovation and open ourselves to it in hope. Our own vocation was an annunciation, and so are the subsequent calls and responsibilities in which we must entrust ourselves to God and look to the future with trust and confidence.

An annunciation too is the event of the General Chapter which we are living in these days. There is a voice, a promise, a spirit which makes it fertile. Our task is to believe, to dispose ourselves to participate wholeheartedly in the enterprise, and then wait in peace for the results.

Mary will teach us how to do it, as she says also to us those words: We are the servants of the Lord! May what God has said be accomplished in us.