March 25, 2015
Feast of the
Annunciation
1st Reading:
Is 7:10–14; 8:10
2nd Reading: Heb 10:4–10
Gospel: Lk 1:26–38
In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent to a young virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.” Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean.
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 if 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 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.
D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the
Assimilated Life
Experience)
The Annunciation at which Mary got pregnant when she said “yes” happened on the sixth month (180th day) of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Plotted on a timeline, these two pregnancies up to Mary’s purification at the Temple make a span of 490 days computed as follows: From the start of Elizabeth’s pregnancy to the end of Mary’s pregnancy, 15 months or 450 days; from the end of Mary’s pregnancy to the end of her 40-day purification, 40 days. Adding all up yields 490 days, or seventy weeks.
“Seventy Weeks” takes us back to the Angel Gabriel’s message to Daniel who was asking forgiveness for his people. (Daniel 9:24ff.). The Angel Gabriel told Daniel: “Seventy weeks are decreed for your people and your holy city, for putting an end to transgression, for placing the seals on sin, for expiating time, for introducing everlasting integrity (Daniel 9:24). The angel was talking of a span of 70 weeks after which justice (lasting integrity) would reign. The figure of Gabriel links Daniel 9:24 to Luke 1:26-38 (Mary’s Annunciation) and suggests that the seventy weeks that Gabriel revealed to Daniel was fulfilled in Jesus’ birth. – Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: dan.delosangeles@gmail.com. Website: www.frdan.org.
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