(c)Mateo Ivankovic 2018 April 9, 2018 The Annunciation of the Lord Dear Family of Mary! Today we celebrate the great Feast, the Annunciation of the Lord! This feast was transferred to today, because March 25 this year was Palm Sunday. So we had to wait until Holy Week and Easter Week were over, since they are the central days of our Faith. But today, at last, we can honor Mary for her great ascent, her “yes” to God! She chose to accept the Father’s invitation to bear His Son, Jesus who was coming to save the whole of humanity! What a powerful day!!! What a central day to our whole relationship to God! This message from March 2, 2014 is a special one. Our Lady refers to the Annunciation in it. She is always so humble when she remembers her life!! See if you can find the reference: March 02, 2014 “Dear children, I am coming to you as a mother and I desire that in me, as in a mother, you may find your abode, consolation and rest. Therefore, my children, apostles of my love, pray. Pray with humble devotion, obedience and complete trust in the Heavenly Father. Trust as I have trusted when it was said to me that I will bring the blessing of the promise. May out of your hearts, from your lips, always come forth ‘May your will be done!’ Therefore, trust and pray so that I can intercede for you before the Lord, for him to give you the Heavenly Blessing and fill you with the Holy Spirit. Then he will be able to help all those who do not know the Lord – you, apostles of my love, will help them to call him ‘Father’ with complete trust. Pray for your shepherds and place your trust in their blessed hands. Thank you.” Yes, she said: “Trust as I have trusted when it was said to me that I will bring the blessing of the promise.” This is such a humble way of remembering when the Angel Gabriel came and told Mary she was full of grace, that she had found favor with God, that she would bear a Son and call Him Jesus, because He would save His people! Wow! She received a blockbuster blessing of the promise didn’t she!! But she trusted. Mary trusted. And she wants us to trust like she did and does. Here is the Scriptural account of that encounter with the Angel Gabriel that we celebrate today. Wow!!!! In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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 father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?” And 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 called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38) “May out of your hearts, from your lips, always come forth ‘May your will be done!’” If we are to trust as Mary trusted, this must be our constant response to the Holy Spirit! “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” If we can live this kind of trust, we will find great joy in our lives, and even greater in Heaven. Thank you, dearest Mother, for being our Mother! In Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Cathy Nolan ©Mary TV 2018
