March 25, 2026
Annunciation
Mons. Bruno Varriano
Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord give you peace!
The Gospel of the Annunciation, taken from the Gospel of Luke, is not only the account of what happened to Mary, but it is a living word that enters today into our lives, as they are, beautiful and wounded, luminous and fragile.
God chooses Nazareth, a hidden place, and chooses Mary, a simple young woman. This means that God does not wait for our life to be perfect in order to enter it. He does not wait for everything to be resolved, ordered, without wounds. On the contrary, it is precisely there, in our fragilities, in our stories sometimes marked by disappointments, failures, loneliness, that God comes to dwell.
The Incarnation, the Word made flesh, tells us this, God is not afraid of our humanity. He is not afraid of our wounds. He goes through them. He dwells in them. He transforms them from within.
Mary herself is not untouched by turmoil. Faced with the angel’s announcement, she is troubled, she wonders. She too lives a moment of uncertainty. And this consoles us, faith is not born from a life without wounds, but from a heart that, though wounded, remains open.
How many people today carry deep wounds within, broken relationships, shattered dreams, fears, a sense of inadequacy. And yet, precisely there an annunciation can resound. Precisely there God can say, "I am with you".
The decisive point is Mary’s "yes". Her "fiat",
"Let it be done to me according to your word".
This "fiat" is not only a moment of her life, it is the model of every vocation, of every mission, of every response to God in the Church and in the world.
Mary’s "fiat" becomes the "fiat" of every mother who welcomes life, even when it is difficult.
It becomes the "fiat" of those who continue to love, even after being hurt.
It becomes the "fiat" of those who rise again after a fall.
It becomes the "fiat" of those who, in silence, carry out their duty with faithfulness.
It becomes the "fiat" of those who choose to forgive, to begin again, to trust once more.
After having lived for years in Nazareth, I can say that Mary’s "yes" is not a distant echo, it is a living reality. Nazareth is the place where God took flesh, but it is also the place that teaches us that every home, every heart can become Nazareth.
Every time we say "yes" to God, even with fear, even without understanding everything, the Word continues to become flesh in history. He continues to enter into the folds of our concrete life.
Brothers and sisters, let us not be blocked by our wounds. Let us not think that God is far from them. Precisely there He wants to be born.
Let us ask today for the grace to learn Mary’s "fiat". A humble but total yes. A yes that opens new paths. A yes that makes the impossible possible.
And so, even our life, with everything it carries within, can become a place of Incarnation, a place in which God continues to draw near to humanity.
Amen.
