#DAYLIGHT – Daily #MenOfLight #GospelReflection
March 25, 2020
Wednesday, Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Gospel: Lk 1: 26 – 38
Sharer: Bro. Mike Lapid
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Gospel
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a
virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The
virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said,
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was
much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The
angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And
now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him
Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the
Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He
will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a
virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And
now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this
is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For
nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here
am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then
the angel departed from her.
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Reflection
WITH GOD NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE
There was a time, particularly during
the age of the enlightenment, when the bible was regarded as just another book
compiled by human authors and not divinely inspired. Being considered as such,
the bible was taken and studied on purely rational terms. As a result, miracle
stories in the bible were considered as both fiction and products of human
imagination. Stories like the creation story, the parting of the Red Sea and
many other such stories were taken up as mere figments of human imagination
that didn’t really happen. They argue that miracles do not happen in the
natural world and that the laws of nature do not support the possibility of
these stories ever happening in real life.
Unfortunately, this kind of thinking
still survives in some biblical scholarly literature and also in some of the
sermons in our churches. For example, we hear of some preachers who speak about
the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves, not as a miracle, but as an
event that prompted people to share what they had, resulting in the
overabundance of bread. Rationalizing the passage of the multiplication of the
loaves this way denies the possibility of a miracle taking place. They claim
that the sharing and the generosity of the people who were there at the scene
was the miracle itself, thus implying that Jesus had a minor role in the
overabundance of bread. Hearing some of our preachers in church perpetuating
this 19th century sermon given by a protestant pastor in America
makes one wonder if Jesus was at all capable of multiplying the loaves of bread
by himself.
When we deny the possibility of
miracles, we also deny God’s power to enter time and space and suspend the laws
of the natural and physical world when he wants to. If God had no power to enter time and space,
then we are left with very little to believe in. If what we believe moves and
affects our minds alone and fails to move or affect the physical world, then we
have reasons to be skeptical of our faith. Then we can begin doubting if indeed
the miracles that Jesus performed were real, like when he changed water into
wine or when he raised Lazarus from the dead or when he walked on water or
calmed a violent storm at sea and ultimately when he raised himself up from the
dead.
But today’s feast, the feast of the
annunciation, precisely tells us that God indeed entered time and space by
becoming man; that as he came to be one with and be like us, all the natural
laws of conceiving a child were lifted and suspended in order to give way to a
virgin birth. The first to wonder how this was possible, was Mary herself. But because she believed in
her heart that there is absolutely nothing impossible for God, even for her to
conceive a child without any sexual relations with a man, she gave her absolute
yes to God whom she believed had the power to accomplish the impossible.
Because of this absolute faith in the Almighty, she is and has been presented
to us as the model of all who believe in Jesus.
The feast of the annunciation also
gives us hope during this time of crisis. If God had intervened in human
history in a very real and profound way through the miracle of the incarnation,
then God could intervene once more in our human history today by lifting up the
scourge of this global pandemic. There is nothing impossible for God. While all human efforts to stop this global
pandemic are under way, our faith tells us that God can at will, instantly put
a stop to this menace. But just like all of God’s interventions, our absolute
faith and belief in Him who saves, is necessary. We know in faith, that in
God’s time, this global ordeal will one day cease and that to pray and believe
like Mary becomes the path for us to witness God’s intervention of healing the
world and protecting it from this most deadly virus. With God, nothing is
impossible.
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Prayer
Dear Lord, we thank you for making your
Son, Jesus enter time and space through his incarnation in the womb of Mary our
mother. Grant us a faith like hers so we may behold your power working in our
lives. Amen.
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Assignment
During these times when we are holed up
and quarantined in our homes, let us imagine ourselves like the apostles who
waited for days inside a room for the coming of the Holy Spirit. There they
were with Mary in their midst, waiting and praying. Let us spend moments in the
silence of our homes praying with Mary as we await God’s salvation in our
midst.
#WordmadeFlesh
#Annunciation #WithGodNothingisImpossible
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Quote
“ And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. “ - John
1: 14
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