
Do not be afraid - 25-03-2026
Annunciation of the Lord - Solemnity
Readings Responsorial Psalm Gospel YOUCAT Reflection
First Reading
Isa 7,10-14.8,10b.
The LORD spoke to Ahaz, saying:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered, "I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then he said: Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men, must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.
which means “God is with us!”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 40(39),7-8a.8b-9.10.11.
Sacrifice or oblation you wished not,
but ears open to obedience you gave me.
Burnt offerings or sin-offerings you sought not;
then said I, “Behold I come.”
“In the written scroll it is prescribed for me,
To do your will, O my God, is my delight,
and your law is within my heart!”
I announced your justice in the vast assembly;
I did not restrain my lips, as you, O LORD, know.
Your justice I kept not hid within my heart;
your faithfulness and your salvation I have spoken of;
I have made no secret of your kindness and your truth
in the vast assembly.
Second Reading
Heb 10,4-10.
Brothers and sisters: it is impossible
that the blood of bulls and goats take away sins.
For this reason, when he came into the world,
he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in.
Then I said, 'As is written of me in the scroll,
Behold, I come to do your will, O God.'"
First he says, "Sacrifices and offerings, holocausts
and sin offerings, you neither desired nor delighted in."
These are offered according to the law.
Then he says, "Behold, I come to do your will."
He takes away the first to establish the second.
By this "will," we have been consecrated through the offering
of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Gospel
Luke 1,26-38.
In the sixth month, 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.
YOUCAT Reflection
84 Was Mary only an instrument of God?
Mary was more than a merely passive instrument of God. The Incarnation of God took place through her active consent as well.
When the angel told her that she would bear "the Son of God", Mary replied, "Let it be to me according to your word" (Lk 1,38). The redemption of mankind by Jesus Christ thus begins with a request by God and the free consent of a human being—and a pregnancy before Mary was married to Joseph. By such an unusual path Mary became for us the "Gate of Salvation".
Copyright © Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, USCCB
Image by - By Justin Benttinen - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=165344934
