MARY, OUR MOTHER

THE ANNUNCIATION OF MARY-HER FEAST

2. The Salutation of the Angel.

Consider in this salutation not only the praise he offers Mary but also the glorious truths he recalls to Her mind. He calls Her full of grace, tells Her that God is with Her, and adds that She is blessed amongst women. Thus does the Angel prepare Mary to correspond to these favors from God and give Her consent to His message and thus not hinder the plans of God. So it is that God often speaks to us. very often and in many ways, and especially with His internal light He whispers into our hearts and reminds us of the graces He has bestowed on us. Hence the obligation we have to correspond to, and cooperate with them. He encourages us with the hope of the wealth of grace and glory that we gain through our correspondence.

But we, so wretched, what do we do? How do we receive those inspirations from God? And if perchance on some rare occasion we feel inspired to work on our own sanctification with fervor and enthusiasm, is it not true that oftener than not we pay no heed to such prompting? And we keep on wasting our time by disregarding those whisperings of grace thus deafening our ears to the advances of God.