During this past week as we’ve been making final preparations for the birth of our Savior, we hear three familiar annunciation stories in the gospels of our Mass.
We hear of the angel appearing to Zechariah announcing the conception of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-25). We hear of the angel appearing to Mary announcing the conception of Jesus and the eternal Kingdom that Jesus will establish (Luke 1:26-38). And we hear of the angel appearing to Joseph re-affirming Jesus’ conception and announcing the salvation offered through Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25).
In all three cases we see the angel as a messenger of God delivering God’s “good news” to those whose hearts and minds were open to God and whose lives were centered on God.
And of course this good news wasn’t just meant for Mary, Joseph, and Zechariah but to all of humanity – all of us. Just as the angel’s message was embraced by those three holy individuals, we too, with our hearts and minds poised to receive Jesus tomorrow on Christmas day, embrace the same good news.
So, on this Christmas eve, with our hearts and minds open to God’s saving power, we reflect for a moment on how truly blessed we are. We contemplate how utterly profound it is that God willed to take on human form, to be “God with us”, to live among us, to make himself know to us, to walk with us, to teach us, to die for us, to save us – all simply because He loves us.
Today we make our final preparations for Christmas, confident that God loves us more than we can fathom. We ready ourselves for the greatest sign of that love – the gift of Jesus, and the good news that he brings to us every day of our lives.