The Annunciation: Choose Life!

On the Feast of the Annunciation, Fr. James Phalan, C.S.C., invites you to awaken again to the wonder and real power of the Way of Jesus and Mary.

The most important event in human history happened because a 14-year-old Jewish girl said “YES” to God. That’s amazing!

Nothing compares to the death and resurrection of Jesus! It was the climax of His life which began when the Angel presented himself to Mary. Through her “YES”, the Infinite Divinity truly united to Himself our all-too-limited humanity! That’s wonderful!

Again: it happened when a 14-year-old Jewish girl said “Yes” to God—and then the Holy Spirit came upon her.

Can we wake up to the wonder of it all and truly let it change our lives? Actually I’m suggesting something simple and practical: learning to living our lives as Mary did, as one “YES” to God after another. Practical: for example – stop complaining about the weather! Stop bemoaning those things—small or big—that you think bother you. Rather, turning to the Lord, give them to Him, saying “YES” to where He is leading you. Our God Who is Love Himself always wills to lead us into greater life!

This 14-year-old Jewish girl said “YES” to God, and kept on saying “YES”.

Her continuous “YES” to God led her to carry God within her and to live literally united to Him, who became her Son. The Father had chosen her to be the Immaculate Conception so that she could be free from sin and able to offer this pure “YES”—and also to show us how to follow in this way, too.

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Her continuous “YES” led her to the Cross with her Son, where she again said “YES” with Him to conquer sin and all that negative stuff that weighs on us and all humanity. Saying “YES” with Jesus and Mary to the crosses in our lives is indeed the way to pass through them into life. OK, we’ve heard that before. On this Feast of the Annunciation, the Feast of the Incarnation of the Lord, we want to invite you, we want to pray with you, to awaken again to the wonder and real power of this Way of Jesus and Mary. We want to remind you to live this in your home with your family. We all believe that Jesus is our Savior: what I am talking about is fundamental to receiving that reconciliation with God and making it your way of life.

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We need to wake up to our urgent need now to be reconciled with God and with each other. #catholicmom

During this Lenten season, here at Family Rosary we’ve been inviting our community to join a journey of reconciliation. We’re not just talking about some abstract theology. Honestly, we need to wake up to our urgent need now to be reconciled with God and with each other. The stakes have never been higher. Families that do not make daily reconciliation a conscious part of their daily life will fracture. A spirit of division pervades and threatens communities, even the whole world. Where does the divisiveness go? Is there a way to reverse a downward spiral?

Yes, there is. It started when a 14-year-old Jewish girl said “YES” to God. We live it when we say “YES” to Him, saying “YES” to the ones we love each day in our homes and our communities, in things big and small.