Homily for the Solemnity of the Annunciation
Nazareth, March 25, 2025
Is 7:10-14; 8:10; Heb 10:4-10; Lk 1:26-38
Dear brothers and sisters,
may the Lord give you peace!
This year, too, we have come to the feet of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, our Mother and the Mother of the Church. And as to every mother, we bring here our expectations, our fears and our need for consolation. We know that God is the source of consolation and that we must look to Him. Only in Him can we base our faith, especially in this very difficult time for us and the whole world
Instead of moving towards a context of encounter, instead of looking for ways and solutions for a perspective of peaceful coexistence, we see barriers of fear, mistrust, hatred and bitterness everywhere. And here in our Holy Land, we must continue to mourn our dead, the many wounds that worry our hearts, our families and our communities. We are tired of having to keep repeating this realization. But it is unavoidable not to think about what is happening around us.
So, we have come here to be guided once again by the Virgin Mary. To learn from her how we should behave and live in these situations.
Mary reminds us today that here God has changed the history of the world. That through her “Here I am”, God has inhabited our history, our time, our human condition. Through her “Here I am”, prophecies are fulfilled, heaven is opened, and hope is reborn for every human being. And we believe that God is still guiding time and history today. He does this in the same style, the style of Nazareth, the style of meekness. And just as His entry into history passed through the “yes” of the Virgin, so it passes now through the “yes” of the Church, our yes, our consent and acceptance to His word of life. God enters history discreetly and seeks the meek, free, humble and open hearts. God needs our “Here I am”, meek people who can say and be a different word of life and hope in the world.
We should not confuse hope with waiting for better times. Of course, we wish for them. We wish for better times to come, times of justice and peaceful living. But we also know that now is a time of pain and loneliness. The time of division and violence. We know that better times will unfortunately not come soon.
But our “hope does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:5). It does not depend on the actions of men, it does not depend on the decisions of the powerful, it is not the result of human endeavor. “Cursed is the man who trusts in human beings, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord” (Jer. 17:5). Our hope springs from our encounter with the Lord Jesus, whom the Virgin Mary gave us through her free acceptance of God’s will. Our hope is based on our encounter with Him. We must encounter Him again in order to start anew from Christ. Only in this way, in the steadfast companionship of Christ, will we be able to live this time without being carried away by feelings of hatred, resentment and fear. And we are here today to ask Our Lady to bring us back to Him and to open our hearts to His Word of Life.
But we must also encounter Him in the many people whose lives, commitment and witness open our hearts to trust. We need men and women who are full of life, who are therefore capable of giving of themselves, of working for their neighbor, for justice, for building relationships marked by dignity and respect. Such people exist, and they are numerous, and they are among us. As long as there are people who know how to give of themselves in this darkest of times, in this sea of pain and violence, there will be hope. The devil has no power over those who give themselves out of love. So let us look beyond our pain, let us be guided by Our Lady and let us consent with confidence to the Word of hope that God has sown in us.
In this time in which narratives of violence and power are constructed, in which the history made by the great ones seems to be one of war and oppression, let us be those who, through their style, in their encounters, through word and life, construct a different narrative, write a different history. With meekness, but also with the power of word and testimony, we want to say our “yes” to God and be builders of another city, full of light and life.
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Lk. 1:30). Do not be afraid. So we must not be afraid. Fear is the devil’s word that closes the heart of man. By following the Virgin Mary, we want instead to follow the Word of God, which creates the future, enables encounters and generates life.
This is why we want to start anew from Nazareth, strengthened by the maternal gaze of Mary, who invites us to look up, not to give in to the fears that paralyze us, and to see the work that God is still doing through so many men and women who give concreteness to our hope. Even more, we want to be among them.
May Mary of Nazareth intercede for all of us, for our families, for our peoples in the Holy Land. Comfort those who now suffer and weep and give strength to those who work for justice and peace. Amen.
+Pierbattista
