Basilica of the Annunciation
Nazareth
September 5, 2025
As we come to this Basilica we draw near to the mystery of the Annunciation, that pivotal moment in history when Mary learned from the Angel Gabriel that she was to be the Mother of God’s Son, the Mother of the Messiah. How overwhelming such news must have been even for Mary who was free of original sin and indeed free of all sin and who contemplated the Word of God in her unobstructed heart. What thoughts and emotions must have welled up within her.
Faced with what must have seemed a mission impossible, and hearing answers that may have raised only more questions, Mary responded to God’s messenger, “Let it be done to me according to your Word.” Unlike Zechariah, who questioned because he doubted, Mary questioned because she wanted to do God’s will. She was a woman of deepest interiority who conceived the word in her heart before she conceived him in her womb. She was that Daughter of Zion who embodied the hope of Israel’s remnant. Thus, her cousin Elizabeth would say to her, “Blessed are you because you trusted God’s Word to you would be fulfilled.”
As Mary demonstrates, hope does not mean that God provides a detailed roadmap, hope does not mean that we won’t have questions, nor does it that we are spared of suffering, for her heart was pierced. Hope means finding God’s will amid our questions and searching, hope means finding peace, consolation, and joy amid misunderstanding and suffering – of which Mary had more than her share.
Some may say that we are involved in a mission impossible. The problems are just too complex, the needs are too great, the destruction too pervasive, the obstacles insurmountable. And truly we have questions, not only about the past but also the future, questions for which answers are not readily available. We ponder the problems and grapple with questions, not because we are looking for a way out, but precisely because we want to deliver humanitarian aid to the suffering. With Pope Leo we trust that, even in the most seemingly hopeless situation, God can plant the seeds of new life, that his light shines most brightly in the darkness created by human folly. Hope is neither mere optimism nor still less is it wishful thinking. It is engagement with the God who can bring forth good from evil and life from death . . . that is why we are here. With Mary, then, let us respond again and again to the mission entrusted to us: “Let it be done to us according to your Word.”