SPEAKER_00: As I mentioned at the beginning of Mass today, the church celebrates the Annunciation of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a phrase that runs through all three readings today.
SPEAKER_00: If you catch it, you'll understand everything.
SPEAKER_00: If you reduce it, you reduce the solemnity to a nice moment in history.
SPEAKER_00: But the phrase is this God is with us.
SPEAKER_00: In the first reading, the prophet Isaiah speaks to a king who is afraid.
SPEAKER_00: Ahaz is facing uncertainty, pressure, fear about the future.
SPEAKER_00: And God says, Ask for a sign.
SPEAKER_00: In other words, trust me.
SPEAKER_00: And what does Ahaz do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he refuses.
SPEAKER_00: Not because he's holy, but because he doesn't actually want to trust.
SPEAKER_00: And that's important.
SPEAKER_00: Because sometimes we disguise fear as humility.
SPEAKER_00: I don't want to test God.
SPEAKER_00: But the truth is we don't want to surrender.
SPEAKER_00: So God gives the sign anyway.
SPEAKER_00: The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, Emmanuel.
SPEAKER_00: God is with us.
SPEAKER_00: Not distant, not abstract, not an idea, but actually with us.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if we go to the second reading, it tells us how.
SPEAKER_00: Not through rituals, not through external sacrifices, but through a person.
SPEAKER_00: Christ says, Behold, I come to do your will.
SPEAKER_00: This is the heart of the incarnation.
SPEAKER_00: Not just that God comes into the world, but that he comes in obedience, in total surrender to the Father.
SPEAKER_00: And then we arrive at the gospel, and everything becomes very quiet, very personal, very human.
SPEAKER_00: A young woman, no power, no status, no control over what's about to happen.
SPEAKER_00: And God comes to her, not with a command, but with an invitation.
SPEAKER_00: And Mary asks the question we should all be asking.
SPEAKER_00: How can this be?
SPEAKER_00: Then comes a line that defines the entire solemnity.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing will be impossible for God.
SPEAKER_00: But here's the key.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: The miracle of the incarnation does not begin with God's power, it begins with Mary's response.
SPEAKER_00: How beautiful how she says, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Be it done to me according to your word.
SPEAKER_00: That's the moment everything changes.
SPEAKER_00: Not when the angel speaks, not when the promise is made, but when she says yes.
SPEAKER_00: And here's the teaching.
SPEAKER_00: This is what this solemnity is about.
SPEAKER_00: God is with us.
SPEAKER_00: But he does not force himself on us.
SPEAKER_00: He enters the world, but he waits for a response.
SPEAKER_00: God has a plan, but he invites cooperation.
SPEAKER_00: And that means this the annunciation is not just about Mary, it's about you.
SPEAKER_00: Because every day, whether you realize it or not, God speaks in your life.
SPEAKER_00: Not always dramatically, not always clearly, but consistently.
SPEAKER_00: And the question is always the same will you trust me?
SPEAKER_00: Will you let me work in your life?
SPEAKER_00: Will you do my will, even when you don't fully understand it?
SPEAKER_00: And most of the time we respond like Ahaz.
SPEAKER_00: We hesitate, we resist, we delay.
SPEAKER_00: But holiness looks like Mary, not perfection, not having all the answers, complete and total surrender.
SPEAKER_00: Now here's where it becomes real.
SPEAKER_00: Because we all like the idea that God is with us.
SPEAKER_00: It's comforting, it's beautiful.
SPEAKER_00: But it's also demanding.
SPEAKER_00: Because if God is truly with you, then your life cannot stay the same.
SPEAKER_00: If God is with you, your priorities begin to shift, your decisions begin to change, your relationships begin to be purified, your sin can no longer be justified.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is not just present, he is active.
SPEAKER_00: So the question today is not, do I believe that God is with me?
SPEAKER_00: Most of you would say yes.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, God's with me.
SPEAKER_00: The real question is, am I with him?
SPEAKER_00: Am I open to his will?
SPEAKER_00: Am I willing to say yes even when it's inconvenient?
SPEAKER_00: Am I allowing him to work in my life or just keeping him at a distance?
SPEAKER_00: Am I trusting the plan that God has for me?
SPEAKER_00: Because the difference between Ahaz and Mary is not knowledge, it's not intelligence, it's not even holiness.
SPEAKER_00: It's complete and total trust.
SPEAKER_00: And that's what God is asking of you today.
SPEAKER_00: Not something dramatic, not something impossible, a real yes.
SPEAKER_00: A yes in your daily life, a yes in your struggles, to be able to wake up every single morning and say, Yes, Lord, I love you.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: I want to say yes in those areas that I've been avoiding.
SPEAKER_00: Because here's the thing when you say yes to God, something always happens.
SPEAKER_00: Something new begins.
SPEAKER_00: You may not see it immediately.
SPEAKER_00: Mary didn't, but God was already at work.
SPEAKER_00: So today, don't just celebrate the Annunciation, enter into it and make it her words your own.
SPEAKER_00: Behold, I am the servant of the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Let it be done to me according to your word.
SPEAKER_00: And if you can say that and really truly mean it, then this solemnity is not no longer just something you remember, it's something that you it becomes who you are, becomes something you live.
SPEAKER_00: You're able to incarnate it.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.