The Annunciation: A Mystery of Faith
Acts of Adoration help us keep our faith pure by keeping our eyes fixed on the Lord. Adoration of God also helps us follow God’s commands in a more perfect, loving way, because we realize how much higher God’s ways are than our ways, His thoughts than our thoughts (cf. Isaiah 55:9).
How do we know what God’s ways are? How can we know His thoughts? By reading sacred scripture and praying daily, not just talking, but listening to God in our heart.
God loves us so much; how can we respond? We respond to God’s love by loving Him more and trusting more in Him. St. Louis de Montfort was a priest who lived in the early 1700s in France. He loved God with his whole heart and was very devoted to our blessed mother Mary. He modeled his life after Mary’s, and asked her to help him dedicate his life to God. He wrote many books about how Mary could help everyone love God more perfectly and live their lives dedicated to God.
How can Mary help us to follow God? We can read about her life and how she lived only for God. We can read about her messages to the world through such Church-approved apparitions as Fatima, Lourdes, Akita,and Guadalupe.
What is an Apparition? An apparition is a private revelation from heaven to one person or many persons. Sometimes Mary appears to people on earth and gives them a message to help themselves and others of that time to live holier lives dedicated to God. (Mary appeared to Bernadette at Lourdes; Mary appeared to the children at Fatima.)
This second week in our consecration will focus on the Annunciation. We think about the Annunciation in the first Joyful Mystery of the Holy Rosary. It is when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced to her that she would be the Mother of the Savior, Jesus. Mary’s response to Gabriel was, “I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done unto me according to thy word.” Mary probably didn’t fully understand everything the angel told her, but in faith she said yes and continued following God throughout her life.
Do you know that God speaks to you, too? God speaks to us all the time. We just need to pray to Him and then spend time listening for His reply. Even if we do not hear anything with our ears, we can listen with our hearts and listen to those God has put in our lives to speak to us (our priests, parents, teachers, etc.). He will always guide us to know what we should do, even if He wants us to search for Him sometimes.
Daily Practice this week
Choose a verse from the Bible to read and think about each day. Print it out or write it down, and place it where you will see it several times a day. You can put it in more than one place (on the fridge door, on your night stand, at your seat at the dining table). If you have difficulty finding a verse that speaks to you or your children, you may wish to consider the following passages which relate to family life:
Daily Prayer this week
The Angelus is our daily prayer this week. It is traditionally prayed at 6:00 AM, 12:00 noon, or 6:00 PM. If your schedule permits, you may wish to pray this daily prayer with your family at one of these times this week.
The daily prayer is included in the Day 1 Meditation Page