The Gospel Reading for today - Luke 1:26-38
The Angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the
virgin's name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, "Hail, full of grace!
The Lord is with you." But she was greatly troubled at what was said and
pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you
will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God
will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with
a man?" And the angel said to her in reply, "The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child
to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth,
your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth
month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me
according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
Isn't that a beautiful scripture reading? I read that early this morning at Adoration
and then heard it at the noon Mass. Now that you have read the scripture yourself,
think about this:
The First Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is the Annunciation:
Luke 1:26-38 (The above scriptures)
The Second Joyful Mystery of the Rosary is the Visitation
Luke 1:39-43
Thereupon Mary set out, proceeding in haste into the hill country to a town of
Judah, where she entered Zechariah's house and greeted Elizabeth. When
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb. Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out in a loud voice: "Blest are you
among women and blest is the fruit of your womb. But who am I that the
mother of my Lord should come to me?
I'm adding the next two verses from Luke 1:44,45
The moment your greeting sounded in my ears, the baby leapt in my womb for joy.
Blest is she who trusted that the Lord's words to her would be fulfilled."
Don't you just love that? John the Baptist was leaping in his mother's womb!
I will post the scriptures from Luke 1:46-56 tomorrow.
The pictures below are from different Catholic Churches that Jim and I have visited.
They represent the Annunciation (two different pictures) and the Visitation.
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