My wife and I have been with our community serving the Lord for over 30 years. It’s been a journey marked by both support and disappointment, a recognition of the reality that a community is comprised of both sinners and saints. 

Once, I had a serious misunderstanding with a co-servant. Knowing fully well that I was right, I stood my ground. But the outcome left me disappointed, and my wife and I even contemplated on leaving the community. 

But during our discernment period, the Lord reminded me of the trials that Mary and Joseph faced in their journey. Mary could have refused her calling. Or Joseph could have abandoned her. Yet, they humbly obeyed the Lord. Their response mirrored Mary’s openness to divine guidance. 

That challenged me to examine my motives for serving. The Lord urged me to forgive. So forgive we did. 

Like Mary, I declared, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled.” 

Like Mary, may we find redemption through obedience and forgiveness. 

Hermie Morelos (hrm9224@gmail.com)

reflect

What is the “small” yes that the Lord is asking from you this time?

May I find strength and faith to obey Your Word just as Mary did.

Saint Dismas, pray for us.

First Reading | Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10

This deliverance prophecy has an immediate and future fulfillment. Immediate in the sense that it refers to Jerusalem being besieged by the Assyrian armies and delivered, as God promised, within nine months. The Fathers of the Church applied this prophecy to the Blessed Mother Mary regarding the birth of a Savior. This is the nature of a prophecy. Let us ask the Lord’s guidance for our communities even today. He will speak to us if we are open to hearing and responding to His Word.

¹⁰ The Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying: ¹¹ Ask for a sign from the Lord, your God; let it be deep as the netherworld, or high as the sky!” ¹² But Ahaz answered, “I will not ask! I will not tempt the Lord!” ¹³ Then Isaiah said: “Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary people, must you also weary my God? ¹⁴ Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel, ^8:10 which means, “God is with us!” 

Responsorial Psalm | Psalm 40:7-8, 8-9, 10, 11

R: Here am I, Lord; I come to do your will.

⁷ Sacrifice or offering you wished not, but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts or sin-offerings you sought not; ⁸ then said I, “Behold I come.” (R) “In the written scroll it is prescribed for me. ⁹ To do your will, O my God, is my delight, and your law is within my heart!” (R) ¹⁰ I announced your justice in the vast assembly; I did not restrain my lips, as you, O Lord, know. (R) ¹¹ Your justice I kept not hid within my heart; your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of; I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth in the vast assembly. (R)

Second Reading | Hebrews 10:4-10 

As we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation today, we remember the most decisive intervention in worldly affairs that God will make. He sends the Messiah to change the world forever. In fact, the grace that Jesus unleashes from the cross penetrates the past and future—that is how powerful it is! Let us live under God’s grace in honor of this feast in which we hear Mary say, “I am the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to your word.”

⁴ Brothers and sisters: It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins. ⁵ 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; ⁶ in holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight. ⁷ Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, behold, I come to do your will, O God.’” ⁸ First Christ says, “Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in.” These are offered according to the law. ⁹ Then he says, “Behold, I come to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ By this “will,” we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Gospel | Luke 1:26-38

The story of the Annunciation has captured our imagination as children. It has all the elements of a great drama: angels intervening in peoples’ lives, scandal with the pregnancy of an unwed mother; the drama of the slaughter of the Holy Innocents; and an emergency birth in a stable. The main characters are all unremarkable—ordinary people like you and me. If God could do this then, He is equally capable of using all of us for another significant task in the work of His Kingdom. 

Gospel Acclamation

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us and we saw his glory.

²⁶ The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰ Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. ³² 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, ³³ and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴ But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?” ³⁵ 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. ³⁶ 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; ³⁷ for nothing will be impossible for God.” ³⁸ 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.

Read the Bible in one year! Read GENESIS 43 - 46 today.

A God Who Dialogues

Pope Francis has often described Christianity not as blind obedience to a list of credal statements but as a deeply personal encounter. Faith involves an intimate and living conversation with God and with His people. This is evident in the Bible whose narratives consist of encounters and communications between God and the patriarchs, prophets, and leaders who respond on behalf of the community.

In the Annunciation, God dialogues and waits patiently for Mary’s response. The Angel Gabriel initiates a conversation filled with promise and reassurance with a young maiden: “Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you.” “Do not be afraid . . .” “Behold, you will conceive . . .”

Mary responds to the angel by openly sharing her doubts and fears: “How can this be . . .?” She needs an interval to ponder and piece things together.  Time then stops in heaven and on earth for the angel and Mary. During the standstill, the angel must have felt overwhelmed as a swirl of thoughts and memories flooded him, like how small and frail human beings can be, but also how full of the breath of God they are. He must be amazed by Mary’s finitude and divine potential.

Mary finally speaks: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord . . .” As Mary submits to God’s plan, a new chapter, a new civilization begins with such commonplace yet celestial conversation.

Dialogue is built on mutual respect, growth, and enrichment. It involves more listening than speaking, more giving than receiving. It is not only sharing of joys and sorrows, problems and preoccupations, religious or spiritual traditions and experiences; but more so, it leads to collaboration for the integral development of the people. 

Fr. Paolo Asprer, SSP

reflection question

Is dialogue a way of life in your family, neighborhood, and community (personal and virtual)? 

Open my heart and mind, Lord, to the truths of other people. May I learn to listen and understand where they are coming from. Amen.

Today, I pray for: _________________________________________