" So, we do not fast - we feast. Why? Because the Solemnity takes precedence over even our Lenten observance. This importance should invite us to consider again the mystery of Mary's cooperation in God's plan and our cooperation in God's plan. In the midst of all of the challenges we face as Catholic Christians in a Culture which has forgotten God, we celebrate God's loving plan and remember the heart of the Christian message, conversion through Jesus Christ. The great event of the Annunciation reveals the path to salvation and to cultural recovery. The little Virgin of Nazareth teaches us how to live our real lives in a real world!
When the Angel of the Lord appeared, bearing the message and calling her to a special mission, she said "YES." We must say "Yes" as well and believe that "nothing is impossible with God." Let's consider her response to the message: "I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word." It is in these words that we discover the heart of the Christian vocation. When Mary spoke those words, human history was forever changed. This Feast is an an invitation to live redemptively. The ongoing re-creative and redemptive work of God´s love continues through each one of us individually and in the communion of the Church which is his body. We are invited throughout our life to learn how to become arks, or dwelling places, through which Incarnate Love comes alive for all those around us. We are invited to respond with our own "yes", daily, even hourly, by living a life of surrendered love. We enter more fully into the mystery of the Incarnation as we respond the same way Mary did: "Behold the servant of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Thy word."
Mary, in her selflessness, was open to the angel´s visit. She recognized who was speaking. She listened, received and responded. In so doing, she shows us the way to respond to the Lord's call in our own lives. God initiates a relationship and we respond in surrender to Him. This dynamic, this heavenly road, leads to a dialogue, a conversation, a communion, a new way of life. By saying Yes, giving our own Fiat. Mary shows us the way to live our lives to the full by living them surrendered to Jesus Christ. This young woman was not full of herself, not self-protective, not cynical, she was emptied, in order to be filled. She was therefore able to completely surrender herself in love, to Love. Her initial assent to the Angel Gabriel´s announcement reveals the very meaning of another Biblical word, "holy". holiness is not about looking pious. It is about being selfless. Mary was holy, and she shows us the way to become holy, too.
This is what Mary´s Fiat is all about. In saying Yes to God, as Mary did, we are able to discover the path to conversion, to holiness, to authentic spirituality. Our call to embrace the Fiat and to make it our own is not a formula for easy spiritual growth, nor is it the first in a series of steps that lead to solving the problems of life. The spiritual life is a path, a Way, and it involves a continuing, ongoing walk with the Lord. Each of us can say "Yes" to God, right now, wherever we are. Each of us can respond with our entire being, with a Fiat of surrendered love. When we do so, our positive response marks the beginning of a participation in the very life of the God who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We become sons and daughters of the Most High and enter into the life of the living God. In Him we find our deepest identity, our real selves, through our participation in the One who made us, who redeems us, and who transforms us by His continual grace.
Mary teaches us how to live. Her way is to become an ark within, to open herself to the Word of God and allow Him to make His home within her. It is the same loving Word who became incarnate within her who now takes up His residence within us. He comes to dwell in all men and women who say "Yes" to Him. Mary invites us to participate in the ongoing incarnation of God´s Word, to become vessels of His Love, for the sake of world.”
By Deacon Keith Fournier
Info from this site: https://www.catholic.org/lent/story.php?id=45402