Gospel: Luke 1: 26-38

 

Some important and strong words that resonate in this passage of the Gospel.

 

- Rejoice!  This is a really strange greeting from God to his creature. And yet, for centuries it resonated in the pages of Sacred Scripture and thus also on the lips of the Hebrew people. Rejoice, be glad, exult! Many times the prophets had repeated this gentle breath of God and had shouted the silent beat of his heart for his people, his remnant. 

 

- The Lord is with you. These simple and enlightened words pronounced by the angel to Mary, liberate an all-powerful force. The fact that He, our Lord, is with us, keeps us alive, gives us courage and trust to go on. If we are, it is because He is with us. 

 

-  Do not be afraid. The Bible is packed with this pronouncement full of kindness; like a river of mercy, these words are found throughout the sacred books, from Genesis to the Apocalypse. It is the Father who repeats to his children not to be afraid, because He is with them. It is like a declaration of love from God to humanity, to each one of us. 

 

-  Nothing is impossible to God. What the angel says here in front of Mary, had already been proclaimed many times in the Old Testament; now the time has come for the fulfilment, now all the impossible things come to pass. God becomes man; the Lord becomes friend, brother; the distant is very close.