Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Scripture:
Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10
Hebrews 10:4-10
Luke 1:26-38
Reflection:
The virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel,
which means “God is with us!” -Isaiah 7:14; 8:10.
Once again we hear in the readings for the Annunciation of the Lord that “God is with us!” How do each of us hear these words at this moment in our lives? What kind of images arise that give flesh to the words “God is with us”? Isaiah is filled with images that foreshadow what Jesus will embody in human form—in just the next chapter, we find Wonder-Counselor, God-Hero, Prince of Peace. These images can fill us with joy and wonder and love. Such is the goodness and gift of God given freely.
God is with us!
Yet, we also find ourselves on a Lenten journey, walking together toward Golgotha, toward the Passion of our Lord. The God who is with us is also a God who knows suffering, who chose to endure suffering out of a love that is incomprehensible for most of us. Jesus freely submitted to the unjust systems of his time to share in the suffering of the people of his time. Unjust systems still persist in our world today. People across the globe continue to suffer today. And Jesus continues to love incomprehensibly and to share in this suffering. We see him living and present today in all who suffer.
God is with us!
Earlier this week, I received a text from a Passionist friend in Birmingham, AL. In the text was a newscast (https://www.cbs42.com/news/racist-sign-swastikas-painted-on-building-in-ensley/). A hate group who espouses white ethnonationalism, had painted a sign on the abandoned hospital building across from the Passionist parish and elementary school of Holy Family. You can imagine the pain and suffering this caused within the community, young African American children confronted by a message of hate directly outside their school. I think of this Sunday’s Gospel reading, “And Jesus wept” (Jn 11:35).
God is with us!
At the deepest level, God is not simply with us, God is within us. One of the greatest challenges of our time is to touch into the goodness of God within us, opening our own hearts to see God within ourselves and the other—excluding no one, neither those who suffer nor those who cause suffering. Our God is so intimately with us, so interwoven into our being that we call ourselves—all of us—the Body of Christ. May it be so.
Lissa Romell is the Administrator at St. Vincent Strambi Community in Chicago, Illinois.