Today the Church celebrates the Annunciation of the Lord, a solemnity transferred to July 2 this year because March 25 fell during Holy Week. This is the moment when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary in Nazareth and announced that she would conceive and bear the Son of God. Her response changed human history.
What happened in Nazareth
The Gospel of Luke places the Annunciation in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. Gabriel appears to Mary, a young virgin betrothed to Joseph, in the Galilean town of Nazareth. The angel greets her with words that have echoed through two millennia: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Luke 1:28, Douay-Rheims).
Mary’s first response is fear and confusion. She asks how this can happen, since she knows no man. Gabriel explains that the Holy Spirit will overshadow her, and the child will be called the Son of God. He tells her that her elderly cousin Elizabeth has also conceived, proving that nothing is impossible with God.
Mary’s reply is nine words in Latin, fifteen in English: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38). This fiat, this yes, is the hinge on which the Incarnation turns. God waits for human consent before entering human flesh.
Why we celebrate it as a solemnity
The Annunciation ranks as a solemnity because it marks the beginning of our redemption. The Second Person of the Trinity assumes human nature at the moment of Mary’s consent. Eastern Christians call this feast the “beginning of our salvation.” The Incarnation doesn’t wait for Christmas; it begins here, in a young woman’s room in an obscure town.
The white lily Gabriel holds in traditional iconography symbolizes Mary’s purity. The descending dove represents the Holy Spirit. Mary is often shown kneeling or standing with hands crossed over her chest, the posture of acceptance. Some icons show an open book beside her, the prophet Isaiah, because artists imagined her pondering the words “Behold, a virgin shall conceive” when the angel arrived.
For today
Pray the Angelus today at noon or 6 p.m. if you don’t already. It’s a short prayer that commemorates this exact moment: the angel’s greeting, Mary’s fiat, and the Word made flesh. If you don’t know it, you can find it at any Catholic prayer site. It takes ninety seconds.
Say your own fiat to whatever God is asking of you right now.
