Today's celebration occurs on the octave day of the Assumption of Our Lady. The Gospel reading is the account of the Annunciation taken from Luke's gospel.

The angel greeted Mary, "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you." Mary is quite alarmed by this greeting. She is not aware of being in any way special. The angel then goes on to tell her that she is specially favoured by God. Because of this she will conceive and bear a son, who is to be called Jesus (which means 'God saves').

Mary is deeply puzzled. How can this happen to her because she is not yet married and has no relations with any man? The angel replies that all this will happen through the special intervention of God. Mary then bows her head and submits unconditionally to the words of Gabriel. This is the high point of human history as we Christians understand it. With that unconditional acceptance of God's will for her, in that moment, the new life began in the womb of Mary. It is the moment of Incarnation, the moment of God's enfleshment, of his becoming a member of the human family and making God visible in a special way in our world.

Mary gave her unconditional 'Yes' to God's request and she never for a moment took back that 'Yes'. Jesus needs to be reborn in each one of us.