Let the Lord Enter

Gospel Reflection for Wednesday, December 20th, 2023

The Annunciation, Public Domain

Today’s Gospel is a familiar one. St. Luke records the narrative of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin. There is so much that could be said about this Gospel as it is one of the most important passages for a Catholic.

For today, I want to concentrate on its connection to the Psalm of the day, Psalm 24:

The beauty of the Annunciation is that God willed to invite mankind to cooperate with His saving plan. St. Thomas Aquinas writes on how it was not strictly necessary for God to redeem us, or even to redeem us in this way. But it was most fitting and the greatest way to show His love for us.¹ In His great love for us, God did not will to save us without our cooperation. So just as it was through a man and woman that mankind fell, so too, would it be through a man and woman that mankind is redeemed.

When writing on the Annunciation, St. Thomas gives four reasons why it was fitting for the Angel to announce to Mary that she would be the Mother of God:

1.     She should be informed in mind concerning Him, before conceiving Him in the flesh.

2.     That she might be a more certain witness of this mystery, being instructed therein by God.

3.     That she might offer to God the free gift of her obedience.

4.     The Virgin’s consent was besought in lieu of that of the entire human race.²

For this reflection, I just want to concentrate on the fourth reason. St. Thomas points to the fittingness that Mary ought to give her consent for God to take human flesh. How immensely beautiful is this? The author of all creation, who rules all and thus has a right to all of creation, asks for the consent of mankind in order to take flesh?

The Psalmist bids mankind to allow the Lord to enter! This bidding is asked of Mary during the visit from the Angel. Just as the fallen angel Lucifer bid Eve to allow sin to enter mankind, so too, does the Archangel Gabriel bid Mary to allow the Eternal Word to enter mankind. Mary redeems what was lost in Eve. Her yes is our yes. Her cooperation is our cooperation.

In this season of Advent, we too, are asked to allow the Lord to enter. We are asked to allow Him to enter our hearts and minds, to be conceived in us in faith just as He was conceived in Mary’s womb. In turn, we also look to the second coming as the Church cries out to God, “Let the Lord enter, He is the King of Glory!”

1. See St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, IIIa q. 1, a. 2.

2. Ibid., IIIa q. 30, a. 1.