DAILY GOSPEL: 25/03/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
The Annunciation of the Lord - Solemnity
Book of Isaiah 7:10-14.
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Psalms 40(39):7-8.9.10.11.
Sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts and sin-offerings you do not require;
so I said, "Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll.
To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!"
I announced your deed to a great assembly; I did not restrain my lips; you, LORD, are my witness.
Your deed I did not hide within my heart; your loyal deliverance I have proclaimed. I made no secret of your enduring kindness to a great assembly.
Letter to the Hebrews 10:4-10.
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.
For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.
Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in." These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will." He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:26-38.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
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,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"
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.
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;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
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.
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God; let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then he said: Listen, O house of David! Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.
Psalms 40(39):7-8.9.10.11.
Sacrifice and offering you do not want; but ears open to obedience you gave me. Holocausts and sin-offerings you do not require;
so I said, "Here I am; your commands for me are written in the scroll.
To do your will is my delight; my God, your law is in my heart!"
I announced your deed to a great assembly; I did not restrain my lips; you, LORD, are my witness.
Your deed I did not hide within my heart; your loyal deliverance I have proclaimed. I made no secret of your enduring kindness to a great assembly.
Letter to the Hebrews 10:4-10.
It is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.
For this reason, when he came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me;
holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.
Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in." These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will." He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 1:26-38.
The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
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,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"
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.
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;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
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.
Tertullian (c.155-220), theologian
On the Flesh of Christ, 17 ; PL 2, 781 (copyright Ante-Nicene Fathers; cf SC 126)
"May it be done to me according to your word"
What previous reason was there for the Son of God's being born of a Virgin? He who was going to consecrate a new order of birth, must himself be born after a novel fashion, concerning which Isaiah foretold how the Lord himself would give a sign. What, then, is the sign? "Behold, a virgin shall conceive a bear a son." Accordingly, a virgin did conceive and bear Emmanuel, God with us (Is 7,14; Mt 1,23). This is the new nativity; a man is born in God because in this man God was born, taking flesh in order that he might reform it with the new seed of the Spirit and cleanse it by the removal of all its ancient stains.
The whole of this new birth was prefigured in ancient type, the Lord being born as man by a dispensation in which a virgin was the medium. The earth was still in a virgin state, reduced as yet by no human labor, with no seed as yet cast into its furrows when, as we are told, God made man out of it into "a living soul" (Gn 2,5.7). As, the, the first Adam was formed of earth, it is a just inference that the second Adam likewise, as the apostle Paul has told us, was formed by God into "a life-giving spirit" (1Cor 15,45)...
When he wanted to recover "his own image and likeness" (Gn 1,26), fallen into the power of the devil, God acted in the same way as he had done when first he created it. For it was while Eve was yet a virgin that she received the word which was to build the edifice of death. Therefore, in the same way, that Word of God which was to raise the fabric of life must be introduced into a virgin's soul ... As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed Gabriel. The sin that Eve occasioned by believing, Mary by believing effaced... The devil's word became as seed to Eve so that she should conceive in humiliation and bring forth in sorrow (Gn 3,16); indeed, she brought forth the one who would be his brother's murderer (4,8). Mary, on the contrary, bore a son who would one day secure salvation to Israel, his own brother.
 Bl. Omeljan Kovč, Priest and Martyr (1884-1944)Omeljan Kovč Priest and Martyr (1884-1944) Blessed Emilian Kovch was born on 20 August 1884, near Kosiv. In 1911, after graduating from the College of Sts Sergius and Bacchus in Rome, he was ordained to the priesthood. In the spring of 1943, he was arrested by the Gestapo for aiding Jews. On 25 March 1944 he was burned to death in the ovens of the Majdanek Nazi death camp. On September 9, 1999 he was honoured with the title "Righteous Ukrainian" by the Jewish Council of Ukraine. He was beatified by John-Paul II on June 2001. - Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana | |
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