Mar 23 2025 28 mins
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:26-38 NRSVUE
We continue with our Lenten Encounter series. Previous 2 weeks, it was meeting the Devil and then last week meeting God and the prophets. This week it is about meeting an Angel of the Lord. And it is a bit weird noh, Lenten season and yet our gospel story is the annunciation. Sa Tuesday March 25 ang feast day of the Annunciation in the Liturgical Calendar which if you count 9 months it ends with December, Christmas.
The story of annunciation as we all know and as we heard from the version of Matthew, the Angel Gabriel visited Mary of Nazareth, greeted her – “Greetings favored one. The Lord is with you.” In other translations, “Hail favored one, the Lord is with you.” And in the old translations may kasama pang “blessed are among all women.” Dito nagmula ang yung Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you. And the story goes, nagulat si Mary and Grabriel told her that she will conceive a child and she will name him as Iesoun – Yeshua. And then Mary responds saying, how can this be for I am a virgin. Paanong manyayari ito eh wala pa akong experience with otochi.
The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God.”
Tignan muna natin yang salitang Angel which comes from the greek Anggelos. According to the greek bible disctionary called Stong’s Lexicon from bible hub, Strong’s entry number 32, Anggelos means:
a messenger, generally a (supernatural) messenger from God, an angel, conveying news or behests from God to humans.
The same lexicon tells us that Anggelos… is derived from the root ἀγγέλλω (aggellō), meaning “to announce” or “to bring tidings.” The Hebrew equivalent is Stong’s entry H4397 (ךְָאְלַמ, mal’ak): Often translated as “angel” or “messenger,” used in the Old Testament to describe both divine and human messengers.
Then the name Gabriel according to the same lexicon hebrew entry 1403 means Strong Man of God – from the root Geber – which means strong man or warrior. Sometimes, Gabriel means, “God is my strength”.
It takes strength and to some extent courage to announce the truth and something impossible. In this case an impossible truth and an unbelievable good news.
How can I conceive if I am a virgin, asks Mary?
And behind the question is also, the question, why me? ME? Me favored? Blessed? Blessed among all women? I have found favor with God? Why? How? I’m a nobody. I’m a poor peasant young girl from an unknown town of Nazareth where nothing good comes from.
Two lessons from the story of Annunciation:
- It takes strength and courage to deliver God’s message because God’s message often times are impossible truths and unbelievable good news that people will question. Some would even reject.
- While it takes strength and courage to herald the good news of God, the Good news is this – God chooses the weak, the powerless, and the nobody to bring about liberation and salvation.
Kita nyo yung contrasting inter-play duon? Strength and courage to deliver the difficult and unbelievable truth BUT the truth being announced is about God’s power and grace always choosing the lowly, the weak, and no-body – like water that reaches down to the lowliest.
Last Sunday I went to a panel discussion titled Blessed Love – it is about gender justice and the love between LGBTQIA+ people in a loving relationship, and based on the 18 years love story of Ash and Leslie, to see and hear that God has always been present in their relationship. It was inside a Catholic university. It was organized by the Theology Department of the university who were mostly women theologians. And I would say, it took a lot of courage and strenght for them to push and hold this event. In some metaphorical ways, these women theologians and one queer theologian are Anggelos and Grabriels – Strong and courageous messengers of God delivering a message of love and blessing not just to Leslie and Ash as queer couples but to the students many of which were themselves queers. Young queer students questioning themselves if they are also favored by God? And through the conversation and discussion, Yes, you are favored and the Lord is with you, and YOU as a queer person, like Mary, can conceive and give birth to God’s love in your life and to the world.
MCC is also a strong and messanger of God announcing God’s favor to the weak, the oppressed, and the no-bodies. When MCC started in 1968 in the United States, that was a dangerous time for LGBTQIA+ Americans. The level of terror, violence, and systemic oppression was just unimaginable and something we never had to experience in most places here in the Philippines. When Troy Perry did the first public blessing of gays and lesbians, he received countless death threats. In one general conference of MCC in San Francisco the earliest days, they received a bomb threat and Troy Perry simply said to the other bishops, well can you look under your seats if there’s anything suspicious there? If none, then we proceed. They will not scare us away. Anyway, if we get bombed, we will all be together entering the pearly gates and we will fabulously enter like any pride parade. The first church property of MCC and of any LGBTQIA+ organization was arsoned and burned down just months after it was fabulously and solemnly consecreted. Then the AIDS crisis where an entire generation of MCC leaders and members died. Through all the challenges and threarts of MCC in the early days and also with the challenges of Open Table MCC for 18 years – we have remained strong, committed, and courageous with proclaiming God’s love for queer people who are considered weak, powerless, and no-bodies. Have you met other messangers of God who had to tell you difficult truths and unbelievable messages?
Have you met Anggelos and Gabriels who did not fear telling difficult truths and impossible announcements?
For MCC members and some of you here, do you rememebr a time in your life where you believed with all your heart that you are sinful as a queer person? Do you remember that long period of your life where you felt so much fear to be known by your church, your family, your friends, and your classmates that you were gay, lesbian, or trans? And you made every effort to hide it and to suppress? Then you found someone or this church telling you that you are not an abomination. Your love, your expression, and who you are, are holy and beautiful. Greetings accla, you are favored and the Lord is with you.
For Ateneo Students, maybe you are in such a phase or situation right now where you are afraid, you feel weak, powerless, and unkown (a no body), we are here to tall you – Greetings favored ones. Do not be afraide. You have found favor with God and the Lord is with you.
I hope that somewhere in your life you encountered Angels and Grabriels who told you that you are favored by God, and that YOU are chosen, weak and weird as you are, a no body in this country and the world, you are chosen by God to conceive and give birth to God’s liberation and salvation in our troubled world today. Figuratively and transposing the story to our context, you are like Mary, chosen to conceive and give birth to Jesus today.
Huh? Ako rin ay tulad ni Mama Mary? Blasphemy. Of course not. Some of the 3rd century church fathers have already preached this before. Walang kwenta ang kwento ng conception and birth of Jesus if we are simply stuck with the story and we simply say how great and wonderful Mamay Mary is and how great and wonderful Jesus is by becoming human. Some of the patristic writings tells us – that you and me – tayo – we are also asked to conceive Christ and to give birth to him in our individual lives, in our communities, and in our world. We are also bearers of God like Mary. We queer people, other women, other non-stereotypical men, we are all God bearers. Our queerness is favored and through us God takes form a new.
BUT You are not only Mary metaphorically, sometimes and in other situations but you are also Gabriel – a messanger of God being sent out to bravely tell the unbelievable truth and the impossible goodnews to other weak and powerless people – the message that they are also God’s favored ones called to embody God’s deliverance in their lives and in our society today.
Therefore, whether you see yourself as similar to Mary, a young powerless peasant girl or if you see yourself as Gabriel – Go out into the world bring God’s love and the unbelievable message of God’s favor to so many others who need love and hope the most.
In Jesus name, Go and may it be so.
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