On March 25 we remember the great Mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God in the most pure womb of the Virgin Mary. It is the greatest and most uplifting day for the Virgin Mary of Nazareth, because God broke into her life with his presence and his grace. The Word of God, the Son of God, the second person of the Most Holy Trinity, became Man, assumes human nature, remaining forever united to the human race, with a soul created for him, as God does for every person at the moment of conception. He kept his Divinity intact: Jesus, son of Mary, true God and true Man.

From that moment God began to have an infinite adorer and the world an almighty Saviour and mediator. For the realization of this great mystery Mary alone was chosen, and she cooperated freely, consciously and generously with God’s great plan to save us.

The words of the Gospel come spontaneously to mind: God so loved the world that he sent his Son to save us (Jn 3:16). And the Immaculate ever-Virgin Mary is closely and indissolubly united to the work of our salvation, to the intervention of the Most Holy Trinity to save all humanity.

Throughout the Old Testament, God jealously guarded the mystery of his Trinitarian nature (one God in three divine persons), in order to manifest it as a precious gift, for the first time, to the creature who was to be his Mother: the Virgin Mary. The most beautiful and lovely thing for the Mother!

Indeed, he revealed to Mary that, by the omnipotence of God the Father and by the work of the Holy Spirit, the Son of God would be incarnate in her womb. Mary is deeply flooded with the light of God, in an ecstasy of love and faith.

Only a few words were enough in the humble dialogue with the Archangel Gabriel for her to abandon herself completely to the Will of God and to give her full and total consent with her FIAT, YES, LET IT BE DONE. And… we were saved.

Mary’s Yes

Two thousand years ago, the Archangel Gabriel — whose name means Man of God — was sent by God to Nazareth — which means white city — to a very young maiden, perhaps about 15 years old, named Mary, a name meaning Sea, Star, flower, sublime, beloved by God.

The angel said to her: Rejoice, full of overflowing Grace, the Lord is with you.

Joy and gladness, because the Good News is announced and Mary’s new name is Full of Grace, that is, immaculate, without sin, white, in harmony with the whiteness of her town; most pure, innocent.

Mary is the new throne of God and of graces, the Mother of Divine Grace.

Faced with this divine greeting, which is at the same time a mission, a vocation and a commitment to God, Mary feels a holy fear; this is natural. That is why the angel says to her: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found grace, God’s favour: you will conceive and give birth to a son.

Being called by her name, Mary is somewhat reassured.

You will conceive by divine work, by the direct action of the Holy Spirit, in a unique and supernatural way. It is God’s doing; no one must intervene, neither now nor in the future. You will name the son JESUS, that is, YAHWEH SAVES, in other words, SAVIOUR. The fact that Jesus receives his name through an angel shows that everything in him comes from above. The angel moves from surprise to surprise, adding: The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Clearly this is not a prophetic spirit, but the Divine Spirit, creative power, who creates the life of this unique Child, true God and true man; it is the Holy Spirit.

It is a New Creation, the New Adam, the servant of YAHWEH, the one who will save all humanity. God alone will be his Father and Mary his Mother. Therefore all who have God as Father will have Mary as Mother.

After the angel’s words there followed an instant of silence in Heaven and on Earth, the most important silence in all history. God himself fell silent, waiting with trembling expectation for the answer of a humble and holy fifteen-year-old girl.

And Mary pronounced her YES, her Let it be done, with all her soul, with her whole being, and she did so in the name of all of us who were saved by her Son, the Saviour.

In that instant something greater happened than the creation of the sun, the stars, the seas, the mountains and men and angels themselves. The Son of God, the eternal Word, the Word, the Saviour of the world, became Man, became a child, began to live in the womb of the Virgin, feeding on the same blood, his heart beating in unison with that of his mother. Jesus is perfectly aware of everything that happens in Mary’s womb; he knows the whole biological process, all his mother’s movements, hears her words perfectly and knows her affections, anxieties and joys.

A divine mystery of Love begins.

Pure, holy, total love.

Author: Father Hilario María Contran O.F.M.
Parish priest of the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua, Colonia América, San Salvador, El Salvador, C.A.