Will and Word Present

The psalmist proclaims the happiness of those who put their trust in the Lord. We reflect on the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today to get some insight into the degree to which our predecessors in the faith have found life in their trust in God. The Church celebrates the Annunciation today because the usual date of March 25 fell on during Holy Week. The Prophet Isaiah is attempting to convince the King of Judah, Ahaz, to place trust in the Lord rather than alliances with foreign countries, which will impose practices on Judah in contradiction to their Covenant. The child who Isaiah hopes will be a constant reminder to the King that Immanuel, or God is with them becomes, according to Friar Jude Winkler, a prophetic declaration used by the Holy Spirit to foreshadow the birth of Jesus. Acceptance that God is with us is a sign that we trust our relationship with the divine to shape our lives in our daily decisions. The text from the Letter to the Hebrews presents the Word of God as perfect atonement to God for sin. The Will of the Father is that the Word be made flesh to become the perfect sacrificial lamb, God with us, to transfuse life to us through forgiveness and healing. Fr Robert Barron, through the Wordon Fire ministry and the magnificent video series, Catholicism, declares that ‘for Catholics, the body is important’. The Word becomes flesh through the Will of the Father, described as the plan of salvation by the possibly Stoic influenced Gentile Luke, and the “Yes” of the young and blessed Jewish girl, Mary. So much is vested by God, literally in the body of a human being, who would be very human if the happiness celebrated by the psalmist was not what she could see in her immediate future.