{"id":142782,"date":"2026-03-25T06:00:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T10:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/?p=142782"},"modified":"2025-11-24T15:43:26","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T20:43:26","slug":"annunciation-of-the-lord-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.regnumchristi.com\/en\/annunciation-of-the-lord-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Annunciation of the Lord"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Ann,<\/span> I am quite disappointed in your philosophy department. \u00a0Two years you have been studying under their guidance and you still don\u2019t understand the concept of secondary causes \u2013 at least, the way you write about trying to discover God\u2019s will for your life indicates that you don\u2019t. \u00a0You seem to think that if you look or pray hard enough, you will check your emails one day and find a message from the Lord indicating exactly what you should do. That, my na\u00efve niece, is not God\u2019s style. He doesn\u2019t program us as if we were robots; he befriends us. \u00a0He reveals his plan of salvation and invites us to join forces with him. He indicates how he wants us to cooperate, but asks us to make use of our own creativity and initiative in responding. And when we contribute our ideas and efforts, he blesses them and works through them, and then makes more suggestions to lead us further along, and so on. \u00a0We are not kangaroos, who have no choice but to jump (and in jumping they give glory to God); we are created in God\u2019s own image, called to exercise our freedom and intelligence in partnership with him, to become secondary causes (secondary only because we didn\u2019t create ourselves) in the work of salvation.<\/span> Today\u2019s Solemnity wonderfully illustrates this principle. \u00a0Since the first centuries of Christianity, the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary \u2013 during which he announced God\u2019s plan to become man and Jesus was conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit \u2013 has been commemorated on this day (exactly nine months before our Lord\u2019s birth). \u00a0Have you ever really reflected on that encounter between Gabriel and Mary? Perhaps it has become so familiar that you kind of gloss over it. The archangel (not just any old angel, but one of the four archangels) informs this teenage girl, who is \u201cfull of grace\u201d as he points out when greeting her, that God would like her to be the mother of the Messiah. \u00a0Having pledged her virginity to God, she doesn\u2019t understand this invitation. Gabriel explains that no man will father this child, that he is the Son of the Most High and will be conceived by God himself. But then he waits for her response. He waits. The conception doesn\u2019t take place until after she has given her consent. Not fully understanding how it will work (who could have understood such a proposal?!), she puts her trust in the Lord and gives herself into his care. \u00a0Only then does the Word of God become a man, only then.<\/span> This exchange has been embodied in one of the Church\u2019s most cherished prayers, the Angelus, which faithful Catholics have prayed three times a day for centuries and centuries. \u00a0And the reason is simple, because it is the pattern for every person\u2019s relationship with God. In big and small ways, again and again, every day, God invites us to participate in his plan of salvation, and he waits for our response. \u00a0And he won\u2019t force himself upon us; he respects our freedom. And when we respond with trust and generosity, as Mary responded, Jesus once again infuses his grace into our hearts and fills the world with his presence.<\/span> Shame on your philosophy professors \u2013 they should have explained secondary causality to you long ago. \u00a0But now, at least, you have no excuse. <\/span> Your loving uncle, Eddy<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Ann, I am quite disappointed in your philosophy department. \u00a0Two years you have been studying under their guidance and you still don\u2019t understand the concept of secondary causes \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":359,"featured_media":145992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[3719],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-142782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncle-eddy"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"","pp_force_visibility":null,"pp_subpost_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_force_visibility":null,"pp_inherited_subpost_visibility":null,"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAnnunciation of the Lord - 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