Today we celebrate this extraordinarily timely Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord! Today we celebrate the beginning of the life of Jesus Christ on earth. Today we celebrate the beginning of the Church. "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!" Jesus' extraordinary conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary is all about the FIRST STREAKS OF REAL DAWN appearing after ages and ages of nearly total darkness.
Jesus would become the Great Light of the World – for all those who want to see by his Light! He would become the beacon of Truth and Hope for all ages! He would guide us to an unimagined Life in an eternity that we can only begin to barely grasp in the here and now!
And it all happened because the lowly virgin, named Mary, of Nazareth trusted God enough to "let it be done to her according to his word." She declared herself the handmaid of the Lord – proclaiming her perpetual heartfelt desire to do the will of God!
And so, Jesus began to live as a real live human person in the womb of Mary from that moment of overshadowing by the Holy Spirit.
This is a fact; and the Church has always embraced the reality that human life begins at this moment of fertilization and conception!
For everyone else – at that moment THREE things merge – 1) the loving gift of self-donation of the father; 2) the loving gift of self-donation of the mother; and not ever to be forgotten the most loving gift of self-donation from God the Father: his image, his likeness: human personhood, human dignity, human being! Human life is SACRED BEGINNING HERE – at the very beginning!
Why this feast today is so timely is because of the Notre Dame Scandal that is very much in the forefront of "Church News!" Fr. John Jenkins, the President of Notre Dame (as you heard Sunday) has invited the President of the United States to be principal speaker at this year's graduation and to be presented with an honorary law degree. Yesterday, Bishop John D'Arcy of the Diocese of South-Bend made this statement regarding the invitation: 'President Obama has recently reaffirmed, and has now placed in public policy, his long-stated unwillingness to hold human life as sacred. While claiming to separate politics from science, he has in fact separated science from ethics and has brought the American government, for the first time in history, into supporting direct destruction of innocent human life. This will be the 25th Notre Dame graduation during my time as bishop. After much prayer, I have decided not to attend the graduation. I wish no disrespect to our president; I pray for him and wish him well. I have always revered the Office of the Presidency. But a bishop must teach the Catholic faith "in season and out of season," and he teaches not only by his words—but by his actions.
Later in the statement he says that "I have in mind also the statement of the U.S. Catholic Bishops in 2004 which says: "the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions." Indeed, the measure of any Catholic institution is not only what it stands for, but also what it will not stand for. … As a Catholic University, Notre Dame must ask itself, if by this decision it has chosen prestige over truth.
He ends by saying that, on this Feast of the Annunciation today, when we as Catholics celebrate the moment when our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, became a child in the womb of his most holy mother, let us ask Our Lady to intercede for the university named in her honor, that it may recommit itself to the primacy of truth over prestige.
I congratulate Bishop D'Arcy on his courageous words and action; and it is not too late for you to use the form enclosed in this week's bulletin and contact Fr. Jenkins and persuade him to change his mind – your prayerfully chosen words can be as courageous as the bishop's – and really help the cause!
God bless you!
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