SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD - Gospel (Luke 1:26-38) - THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38)

FIRST READING - Is 7:10-14; 8:10

A reading from the Book of Isaiah

The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:

Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;

let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!

But Ahaz answered,

“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”

Then Isaiah said:

Listen, O house of David!

Is it not enough for you to weary people,

must you also weary my God?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:

the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,

and shall name him Emmanuel,

which means “God is with us!”

SECOND READING from the Letter of St. Paul to the Hebrews - Heb 10:4-10

Brothers and sisters:

It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats

take away sins.

For this reason, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight.

Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll,

behold, I come to do your will, O God.’”

First he says, “Sacrifices and offerings,

holocausts and sin offerings,

you neither desired nor delighted in.”

These are offered according to the law.

Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.”

He takes away the first to establish the second.

By this “will,” we have been consecrated

through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

GOSPEL OF THE DAY - Lk 1:26-38

From the Gospel according to Luke

The angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,

to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,

of the house of David,

and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

But she was greatly troubled at what was said

and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her,

“Do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favor with God.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

and you shall name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,

and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,

and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,

and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel,

“How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?”

And the angel said to her in reply,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,

has also conceived a son in her old age,

and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;

for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

SOLEMNITY OF THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD - Gospel (Luke 1:26-38)

THE WORD OF GOD FOR EVERYONE

Dear People of God,

Today’s Word of God speaks of God sending the angel Gabriel to bring the Word of God to a woman named Mary.

The message of God is as follows: “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David His father, and He will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom, there will be no end.”

Mother Mary is a woman whom God placed since the beginning of time in His plan of salvation. Mother Mary was given four privileges by God: Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, the Mother of God, and Assumed into Heaven in body and soul.

These four privileges were bestowed upon Mother Mary by God from time immemorial.

The most important thing is that she is the Mother of God and remains a virgin when she gives birth to her son.

This is a miracle, showing that only God's power can do that. Besides Him, no one can turn evil into good, and no one has the power to create from nothing.

With human thinking, Mother Mary is a mortal, but she can be the Mother of God. It is really hard to believe, but with the mystery and power of God, He can do everything. These are the privileges and also the four dogmas in the Catholic Church that everyone must believe.

Mother Mary also could not believe that this was true that God gave a fetus to live in her womb. Because in her heart, Mother Mary knew that she had always kept herself virgin and pure before God, so why could she have a child? But God told Mother Mary that her pregnancy was by His power: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God." That is a great grace that no woman has except Mother Mary alone. That shows that God is powerful, infinitely powerful; He can do everything. No one can fully understand God's ways in His plan of salvation, in the Mystery of the Holy Trinity, how it works: from a Supreme God who came to earth to become a human being, who would believe it? But with the mystery of God's salvation, that happened. All because of His love for mankind. He did not want mankind to suffer eternal death, nor did He want mankind to be imprisoned by Satan, so He carried out the plan of salvation in a way that mankind could not understand.

That is the Mystery of Love.

In order for mankind to understand the mystery of redemption, God demonstrated it to mankind through miracles, specifically the miracle that happened to Elizabeth, who was old and could not give birth according to worldly ways. But with the mystery in God's work, she still became pregnant and gave birth to a son. This is beyond human understanding.

Next, the Word of God speaks of Mother Mary's obedience and humility before God: She completely obeyed God's will, entrusted everything to Him, and received the noble graces from God. As a small and lowly person, she completely trusted God to receive a great responsibility—that is, to receive the Second Person of God into her womb. Mother Mary collaborated in God's work of salvation by carrying, nurturing, and teaching the Second Person of the Holy Trinity on this earth, so that God's plan of salvation could be completed perfectly. With God's power and strength, He can do anything. With the power of the Holy Trinity and His Word, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, God continued His plan of salvation after Jesus ascended to heaven. It is now the time of the Holy Spirit's activity. The Holy Spirit is flexible, agile, and progressive in following God's path of salvation.

In this new era, God sent angels to the world to become human. It is hard to believe! Because people think only God came to the world to become human. But the reality has happened, is happening, and will continue to happen, because God sent Thien Thuong, an angel of God, placed from ancient times in His plan of salvation, to come to the world to unite with a human—also according to the ancient intention, born into this world by God, loved, preserved, and purified by God. When the time comes, God chooses, separates, and leads into His plan to work for Him. But people must know that humans and angels are just creatures of God. Angel Thien Thuong and human Nguyen Chu Thien Thuong are two creatures. With God's power, He allows them to combine to carry out His plan—not like Jesus, who came to earth to become human. People should not be mistaken!

God chose angel Thien Thuong to continue the mission of Jesus, the mission that was given to the apostles and His Church: to cast out demons, to lay hands on the sick, and to preach the plan of salvation of God. Only with Thien Thuong, God give an important mission to write the Word of God, this is the Real Word that teaches people in daily life. The Word verifies for God's children what comes from God, what comes from Satan, and guides people to follow the right path of God in the plan of Sanctification of the Holy Spirit. God said, that just like the ancient Jews, they could not believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came to earth to become a human, and they could not believe that Mother Mary gave birth to the Son of God.

So, people and the Church today cannot believe that angels come to earth to become humans and that humans can give birth to angels. But this is the truth that comes from God. God reveals to people that He has, is, and will continue to let angels come to earth to become humans to collaborate in His plan of salvation. The plan that He is carrying out reveals an important truth as angels descend on earth to become humans, they do not completely obscure Jesus’s work of salvation but rather continue Jesus’s plan of salvation under the influence of the Holy Spirit.

Thanks be to God. Amen.