Each year on  March 25 the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  This Solemnity fills the Church, both in heaven and on earth, with tremendous joy. Our Lady’s said yes to God’s will as made known by the Archangel Gabriel.  Her yes is of incalculable importance in the Heavenly Father’s eternal plan for our redemption.
    Because of Adam’s sin, the human race fell from grace with God.  As a result, every human person came under the dominion of Satan, the slavery to sin and the punishment of eternal death.  In His infinite mercy, God did not abandon us.  Rather, He promised to send a Redeemer (see Gen 3:15f).  This Redeemer would not come with great pomp and ceremony.  He would be born of a woman, as are all men.  Then God searched the ages to find the woman who would be worthy to bear His Divine Son.  His eye rested on Mary, the humble Virgin of Nazareth.  She, as the liturgy tells us, was found worthy  to be the mother of the Redeemer.      
    In the fullness of time, God sent Gabriel to visit this young Jewish maiden of fifteen or sixteen years of age.  When the great Archangel beheld this young maiden, he saw no ordinary woman.  He saw in her the apple of the eye of the Father.   He saw her Immaculate Conception.   Moreover, Gabriel knew that she never offend God by the slightest venial sin.  Gabriel saw in Mary the one who was about to become the Mother of Christ.  Indeed!  She was about to become the Mother of God!  Gabriel fell to his knees and, with head bowed, greeted her with the salutation:  “Ave!”
    Think of it!  Of all the human family, Mary is the only one who never offended God by sin.  Without exception, all of us have sinned.  Adam and Eve sinned.  The Patriarch Abraham once worshiped idols in Lower Mesopotamia.  Moses killed a man in Egypt and then he doubted God.  David sinned with Bathsheba and had her husband killed to cover up his adultery.  Simon Peter, the first Pope, asked Our Lord to depart from him because: “I am a sinful man.”  Saint Paul identifies himself as “the chief of sinners.”  In their youth, both St. Augustine and St. Francis of Assisi were great sinners.  All of us have offended God by sin.  Our Blessed Mother is the only Sinless One.
    The Blessed Virgin Mary is, as the Protestant poet Wordsworth describes her: “Our tainted nature solitary boast, purer than form on ocean's wave toast.”  Vatican II expressed the Church’s faith by teaching: “Mary is the Mother of God.  As a result, she is also the favorite daughter of the Father and the temple of the Holy Spirit.  Because of this sublime gift of grace, she far surpasses all other creatures, both in heaven and on earth.” 
     When Gabriel addressed her as full of grace, he announced to her God’s will that she was chosen to be the Mother of the Redeemer.  The Father awaited her answer.  Gabriel and the whole of creation waited.   Imagine!   The eternal plan of God for our redemption hinged on the response of the Virgin Mary.  Then, the Father heard the words that He longed to hear. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord!  Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”  Never before or since was He so pleased!   Instantly, “The Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us!” 
    Our Lady’s response is the yes that God expects from us in all that we do.  He wants us to do His will and make it our own.  Jesus Christ calls us to conversion.   St. Paul tells us to take off the old man of sin and vice and put on the new man made in the image of God.   Our Blessed Mother teaches us how to do this.  She never did things her way; she always did things God's way.  Let us turn to her in our struggle with sin.  She is our Mother and our Model.  She is our hope and our joy.  She is the Refuge of Sinners and the Gate of Heaven.  She is: “Our Tainted Nature's solitary boast!”
                                                                                              

Father Richard J. Rego, S.T.L.