Millennial Lenten Reflections: The greatest gift

Editor’s Note: The following is part of Millennial Lenten Reflections, a blog series in collaboration with Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. Short reflections on the day’s readings, written by young adults from FMS and other organizations, will be posted everyday throughout Lent. 

For the past few years, I’ve felt especially lucky to have been born on today’s feast of the Annunciation, a day where we commemorate Jesus’s entrance into human history through Mary of Nazareth. With her courageous yes to God, Mary gave me the greatest gift I’ve ever received: Jesus Christ.

The Annunciation shows us that nothing—absolutely nothing—will keep us from God’s love. Despite our continued failures, God pitched a tent among us and entered into our human lot.

In a few days, the Church will relive the story of Jesus’s passion and death. In the paschal mystery, we see all of human brokenness on display: greed, violence, hatred, injustice and disloyalty. But we also see that Jesus enters into all of it, and redeems all of it. He goes all the way down to bring all of us up. No one is left behind.

So today too is a celebration of the beginning of the greatest love story ever told. We must never forget who we are, where we came from or what our destiny is. Ours is a cosmic story about the goodness of creation, the pain of sin and brokenness and God’s redeeming love in Jesus.

In Mary, God becomes our brother. The Lord of our life is given a name and a face: it is Jesus of Nazareth, the human face of God’s love. In him and his life, death and resurrection, our Easter joy will be complete.

Christopher Hale is the executive director of Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good. He and his work have been featured in Time Magazine, USA Today, The Washington Post, CNN, and Fox News, among other publications.