COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
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CHURCH TEACHING
For Mary, the announcement is almost overwhelming but her faith and purity
animated her to God’s truth. She accepted the angel’s message and all its implications
for her own life – a radical, unforeseen change in her plans. Mary’s total YES (FIAT) to Go’s
plan of salvation makes the incarnation possible. Mary remained faithful to her mission
unto the cross-making Jesus available to us. If we love Jesus, then we also love his mother
and follow her lead bringing us to Jesus.
Luke’s story of Mary encourages you to notice and wonder both with your minds
and hearts how God is with you, to be curious and to ask pointed questions, even of
God’s great messengers. Luke’s story also calls you to notice and ponder how God is
forever stirring up wild possibilities, and how God invites you into the ongoing story of
wonder, inclusive of happiness and sorrows, but, according to Luke, into a life where
God’s joy ultimately reigns.
The “Annunciation” refers to “The visit of the angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin
Mary to inform her that she was to be the Mother of the Savior. After giving her consent
to God’s word, Mary became the Mother of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
(Catechism of the Catholic Church, 484, 494, Glossary, p. 866)
The Annunciation of the Lord is a Solemnity, which is a Feast of the highest rank in
the Catholic Church. The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that: “In the liturgical
year the various aspects of the Paschal Mystery unfold. This is also the case with the cycle
of the feasts surrounding the mystery of the Incarnation (Annunciation, Christmas,
Epiphany). They commemorate the beginning of our salvation and communicate to us
the first fruits of the Paschal Mystery” (CCC, 1171). The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates
"the fullness of time", the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations. Mary
was invited to conceive him in whom the "whole fullness of deity" would dwell "bodily".
The divine response to her question, "How can this be, since I know not man?", was given
by the power of the Spirit: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you." (CCC, 484)
The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son.
The Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the giver of Life", is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary
and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a
humanity drawn from her own. (CCC, 485)
COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 2 of 3
The Father's only Son, conceived as man in the womb of the
Virgin Mary, is "Christ", that is to say, anointed by the Holy Spirit, from
the beginning of his human existence, though the manifestation of
this fact takes place only progressively: to the shepherds, to the
magi, to John the Baptist, to the disciples. Thus, the whole life of
Jesus Christ will make manifest "how God anointed Jesus of
Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power."(CCC, 486)
What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on
what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary
Christian-Mary. (2017). illumines in turn its faith in Christ.
https://www.orlandodioces
e.org/reflection-on-our-
Many Filipino Catholics probably learn more about Faith from
blessed-mother-mary/ their devotion to the Virgin Mary than any other way. This is perfectly
grounded in Scripture which portrays Mary as the exemplar of faith.
Through her “Yes” at the Annunciation, Mary “becomes the model of faith”. Luke stresses
the contrast between Mary’s faith and the disbelief of Zachary by Elizabeth’s greeting.
“Blest is she who trusted that the Lord’s words to her would be fulfilled”. John Paul II writes
that “in the expression ‘Blest are you who believed’ we can rightly find a kind of ‘key’ which
unlocks for us the innermost reality of Mary, whom the angel hailed as ‘full of grace’”. (CFC,
155)
Mary perfectly exemplified the common definitions of faith as “full submission of
intellect and will” and the “obedience of faith” (Rom 16:26; 1:5; cf. DV 5). But she did it
personally, with all her human and feminine “I”, and this response of faith included both
perfect cooperation with the “grace of God that precedes and assists,” and perfect
openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, who constantly brings faith to completion by his
gifts. Luke carries this theme of Mary’s faith into his second inspired book where he
describes her presence among “those who believed” in the apostolic community after the
Resurrection. (CFC, 156).
Mary is truly an effective inspiration to us because she constantly exercised faith in
all the realities of ordinary, daily living, even in family crises. Luke’s account of the “finding
in the Temple” offers a perfect example (cf. Lk 2:41-52). There is the first stage of
astonishment at seeing Jesus in the temple, in the midst of the teachers. Astonishment is
often the beginning of faith, the sign and condition to break beyond our “mind-set” and
learn something new. Mary and Joseph learned something from Jesus that day. (CFC, 157)
Second, there is distress and worry, real anguish and suffering. As with the prophets,
God’s Word brings good and bad fortune. Mary was already “taking up the Cross” of the
disciple of Christ. Third, there is often a lack of understanding. Both Mary and Joseph, and
later “the Twelve,” could not understand what Jesus meant. Faith is not “clear insight” but
“seeing indistinctly, as in a mirror”. Finally, there is the fourth stage of search wherein Mary
did not drop the incident from her mind, but rather “kept all these things in her heart.” Faith
is a continual search for meaning, for making sense of what is happening by uncovering
what links them together. Like the “scribe who is learned in the reign of God” Mary acted
like “the head of a household who brings from his storeroom both the new and the old”.
(CFC, 158)
The name Mary is almost synonymous with full of grace. One who is full of grace is
very humble, recognizing one’s own limitations and incapacities and then simply waiting
for the assurance from the Holy Spirit. One who is full of grace magnifies the Lord.
COURSE LEARNING PACKETS Document Code FM-STL-014
Saint Louis University Revision No. 01
School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts Effectivity June 07, 2021
Page 3 of 3
This is how significant Mary is as portrayed in the story of the Annunciation.
According to his Eminence, Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, in one of his homilies, the
Annunciation was the beginning of the Incarnation: a silent and mysterious event that
changed the world because at that moment, “in the fullness of time and fullness of love,
heaven and earth would unite in the Womb, in that Son-truly God but also truly
human…for God so loved the world He sent us his only Son.”
Indeed, Mary, the Mother of God, is an essential part of the Catholic Church. “She
is hailed as pre-eminent and as a wholly unique member of the church, and as its
exemplar and outstanding model in faith and charity.” (CCC, 967) Since Mary is the
mother of Jesus, she is also the mother of the church (CCC, 963.) We have already seen
that the church is Jesus carrying on his mission on earth to teach, to heal and to give
glory to God. We are the church, we live with the life of Christ, we carry on his mission to
the world. Therefore, Mary is our mother also, and that fact alone should serve as a source
of great devotion to her. (Knox, Ian 1999)
Despite the seeming impossibility of the Angel’s message, Mary demonstrated her
faith and trust in God by her acceptance of God’s invitation. The following questions may
serve as a guide and a challenge to you as you ponder on your commitment in
answering God’s call.
1. Do you say “yes” to God in the small, everyday situations of your life? When the yes
is hard, do you ask God for the grace to respond to his call?
2. You are challenged to help “make flesh” the Word of God. How do you respond to
that invitation? In what ways do you help birth Jesus into the world?
3. What are the instances you have difficulty saying “yes” to God? How can Mary
help you in those moments?
