But the angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you.
You shall conceive and bear a son; and you shall call him Jesus.
He will be great, and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor;
he will rule over the people of Jacob forever; and his reign shall have no end.”
Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel said to her,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore, the holy child to be born of you shall be called Son of God. Even your relative,
Elizabeth, is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child;
and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.” Then Mary said,
“I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the angel left her.

REFLECTION:
The drama of salvation begins with the fall of Adam and Eve in paradise.
The climax is the Paschal mystery – the birth, the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
The denouement is the Resurrection! And in this Divine Comedy,
God vanquishes the devil! In the plot designed by the Divine author
there is the Woman who would be the surprise instrument for the victory of God! Thus,
the 1ST reading reveals not only the fall of Eve but the promise of the Woman who would
bear a Son who would crush the head of the serpent!
The divine drama develops gra­dually in the Old Testament, which is a period of waiting,
an “advent!” In the fullness of time, the Savior would be born of The Wo­man whom the Archangel Gabriel will greet
“Ave Maria!” She, the sinless one, the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, would be the
“cause of our Joy” when she would accept the Divine offer to become the Mother of God! God uses a lowly maiden to undo what an ambitious woman was tempted to do, to become like God. The handmaid who was full of grace declared her unconditional obedience to God’s holy will. That “FIAT” set the wheels rolling for the climax of the Divine comedy that begins with the mystery of the Incarnation!
Thus, Christmas cannot be ima­gined without the Virgin Mother!
How wonderful that during the Advent season holy mother Church lets us contemplate Mary’s role in the Divine Drama!

© Copyright Bible Diary 2020