Though we have celebrated the Annunciation nine months earlier, it is fitting to read, once again in this week before Christmas, the beautiful Gospel of the Annunciation, for without the Annunciation there would have been no Christmas as we know it.

The name of the village of Nazareth does not occur in the Old Testament. Previous to the Annunciation, Nazareth had no role to play in the history of Israel or in salvation history. It is almost as if its existence had only one purpose: to give a home to Jesus, Son of God and Son of Mary.

Just as God chose the obscure village of Nazareth, so he chose a previously unknown village girl to assume the tremendous and miraculous mission of being the mother of the Incarnate Word. Because Mary accepted this vocation, her name is known throughout the whole world, and the names of Nazareth and Bethlehem will be forever remembered. Because of Mary of Nazareth, the Son of God became Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Saviour.