“Love the Madonna and pray the Rosary, for her Rosary is the weapon against the evils of the world today. All graces given by God pass through the Blessed Mother.”

"The world being unworthy to receive the son of God directly from the hands of the Father, he gave his son to Mary for the world to receive him from her."- Saint Augustine: (354 – 430 AD: was a  Roman African, early Christian theologian and philosopher)

Gospel Text: (LK 1:26-38)

The angel Gabriel was sent from God
to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,
of the house of David,
and the virgin's name was Mary.
And coming to her, he said,
"Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you."
But she was greatly troubled at what was said
and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
Then the angel said to her,
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,
and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his Kingdom there will be no end."
But Mary said to the angel,
"How can this be,
since I have no relations with a man?"
And the angel said to her in reply,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God.
And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,
has also conceived a son in her old age,
and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
for nothing will be impossible for God."
Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.
May it be done to me according to your word."
Then the angel departed from her.

We live in an age when it’s so easy to say “No.” We can make life what we  want it to be – even if that’s not what it should be.

You can fight aging with botox, avoid dieting with liposuction.  You can  make a baby in a Petri dish. You can get a mortgage for an overpriced house with  a three-car garage that you can’t afford.    And, if it all becomes too  stressful, society tells us that you can get rid of anything that’s just  inconvenient – even an unborn child.

But Mary didn’t.  Mary wouldn’t.   She listened to another voice.  The voice  of an angel.  When Mary asked the question the world asks so often of God – “How  can this be? “— the answer ignited in her a fire.  The fire of the Holy Spirit,  the fire of possibility.

The answer is this: it can be because God wills it to be.  Nothing is  impossible with God.

How often we forget that.  How often we disbelieve it, or mistrust it.