Annunciation 2018 - Mary, Co-Redemptrix

The Feast of the Annunciation is one of the most ancient feasts of the Church. Earlier names for the Feast were Festum Incarnationis—The Feast of the Incarnation, and Conceptio Christi—the Conception of Christ. Though the name has varied, the date of the Feast is is placed exactly nine months before Christmas: nine months, the term of a pregnancy, except when it is displaced by Holy Week or the Octave of Easter, as it was this year.

We just celebrated Easter, and this feast gets us thinking about Christmas already. But this feast is so important, because without the Annunciation there wouldn’t have been an easter, without Mary’s yes, there would be no incarnation, and with no incarnation, there would be no saving sacrifice, no resurrection, no hope.

This is why Mary is often given the title of “Co-Redemptrix”. Mary participates in the redemption of man through her fiat. She cooperates with God’s plan for human redemption when she humbly accepts the Will of God, saying “Be it done unto me according to your word.” She accepts the labor and sufferings that the will of God entails. The devotion of the Seven Sorrows of Mary help us to contemplate all she suffered in union with Christ her Son to bring about—to deliver—our salvation.

Since Jesus Christ is the Mercy of God incarnate, Mary can rightly be called the “Mother of Mercy”, as she is in the Salve Regina. Since Jesus Christ is the salvation of the world, Mary can rightly be called the “Cause of our Salvation”, cause, in the Aristotelian sense, as she was called by St. Irenaeus in the 3rd century. Since Christ is Our Joy, Mary is rightly called the “Cause of our Joy”

Mary’s role in our salvation is not to be overvalued—as many protestants claim we do, nor is it to be undervalued, as most protestants end up doing. The Catholic position is not too hot, not too cold, but just right. To rightly love the Son, we rightly love the mother who brought him into the world through a consent of the will so humble it made the angels rejoice.

May we rightly enshrine Mary in our hearts by imitating her humility, by humbly submitting our minds, our wills, our whole lives to the Lord. May the Blessed Mother bring about in us a flowering, a new birth, of God’s grace within each of us, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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That through the teaching, preaching, and pastoral care of the Church all Christians will grow in their devotion to and imitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  We pray to the Lord.

That through Immaculate Mary, Queen of Peace, hatred, violence, and cruelty will cease in the world.  We pray to the Lord.

For those trapped in the downward spiral of sin, that the hope offered through the Incarnation of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin will bring them new life in the Spirit.  We pray to the Lord.

That Mary’s maternal care and heavenly intercession will raise us to the moral greatness befitting true children of God.  We pray to the Lord.

For blessings on all expectant mothers, newborn infants, and young families.  We pray to the Lord.
That from the moment of conception all children will be preserved from bodily harm; for the overturning of unjust laws that permit the destruction of innocent life; and that the minds of all may be enlightened to know the dignity of every human life.  We pray to the Lord.

For all those who have died, for all of the poor souls in purgatory, for all who have fought and died for our country’s freedom, and for [intention below], for whom this Mass is offered.  We pray to the Lord.

We pray, O Lord our God, that the Virgin Mary, who merited to bear God and man in her chaste womb, may commend the prayers of your faithful in your sight. Through Christ our Lord.