Mary at the Annunciation: A Dogmatic-Liturgical Analysis

Mary at the Annunciation: A Dogmatic-Liturgical Analysis

On this second day of the Novena, we contemplate the promise of the Covenant fulfilled directly in Mary, celebrated liturgically on March 25, nine months before Christmas, and on the Fourth Sunday of Advent.

In Marian shrines, in celebrating this crucial moment in the history of salvation, we celebrate the Incarnation of the Word in Mary’s womb and thus the creation of the first Christian shrine: Mary’s womb. This Shrine was the result of a Yes.

In the first reading we hear Isaiah, who, during the reign of King Ahaz, whether or not he wanted a sign from God, proclaims through the prophet: God will give you a sign: the Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son who shall be called Emmanuel. God with us.

This sign is not merely a demonstration of God’s power, but a gift of the Father’s will. Lowly man is reluctant to ask for a sign; the most high God determines a sign. In the Old Testament, each sign made the invisible YHWH visible in history, in such a way that this visibility was always mediated, because no one could see God face to face and remain alive. So it was believed at that time.

God’s presence was manifested through signs which, at that time, were meant to free the allies of the King of Israel from the threat of Assyria. Ahaz’s refusal to seek a sign coincides with the alibi of not putting God to the test, but it reflects a lack of faith. God, however, who does not need man’s permission to carry out His will, renews the challenge: a young woman will conceive a son, and this son will be the sign of God’s presence in the midst of the people. This sign was received in its fullness in Mt 1:21-22 and Lk 1:31. Over time the sign kept coming to pass until the moment when, in the fullness of time, born of a Woman, the Son of Mary became, once and for all, God-with-us.

In the Gospel we hear a new question: How can this be? It is a new request for a sign. The young woman of Nazareth learns of her motherhood and, in her condition, cannot conceive. The sign is the presence of the Angel named Gabriel. This name means strength of God. That is the sign: the strength of God will overshadow you.

We are faced with a sign in two stages: the Word and the Event. 

• The Spirit will come upon you. This is the event (Lk 1:35).
• Your kinswoman Elizabeth, too, had conceived a son in her old age and was in her sixth month, she who was considered barren. This is the sign that the Word is true.

What was the response to the event and to the word? Availability: Behold, the handmaid of the Lord (Lk 1:38). Abandonment to the Father’s will governs the service of God in history. 

God’s manifestations in history have not ceased; the signs of His presence remain. If before Mary God was veiled, transcendent, known only through His actions, now, from the house of Nazareth, once and for all, He is visible, He has a face, a family, a culture, a time, and above all He becomes man, making us God. This is the covenant. The Son of God pitched His tent in human history, because the Word became flesh in Mary’s womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. The sign once promised is now fully accomplished: God made man, who dies, rises, and returns to the right hand of the Father, opening the doors for human nature to live in the hope of the Parousia. A sign of His presence is also the community gathered in His name (Mt 1:20).

To deepen the dogmatic-liturgical analysis of Mary at the Annunciation, consult John Paul II’s encyclical Redemptoris Mater, which devotes extensive reflection to the moment of the Annunciation as the starting point of Mary’s faith.

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