Multiple Applications for the Same Word of God

This is the second time in a week that I have read this gospel passage from Luke about the Annunciation.  I read it last Wednesday at the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  I will read it again this next Sunday for the last Sunday of Advent; and then, again, in the middle of Lent on the feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord.  So, this makes at least four times this Liturgical year that you will hear this same Gospel. 

What is it about this Gospel passage that is so versatile?  Well, several themes can be drawn from it in support of different liturgical celebrations.  It supports a Marian theme for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception; an Incarnational theme for Advent; and an Obedience/Self-Sacrificing theme for Lent. 

We can learn something from the Church’s multiple uses of this Gospel.  As this word of God has application to different stages or phases of the Liturgical year, so may any particular word of God have application and re-application to the different stages of our own personal lives.  God can say new things using the same “old” words.

The word of God is alive and speaks to us.  It has different things to say at different times and within different contexts.   This is one reason it is good to regularly refresh our readings of the word of God as we experience new things or live into new experiences.  What God had to say to us yesterday, using the living word of Sacred Scripture may be different than what he has to say to us today.  Regular reading of God’s word is an important way to keeps it application fresh and pertinent.  It is a way of hearing what God has to say to us today. 

Those who come to daily mass and regularly hear God’s word; and hear it repeated such as it is today, have an advantage.  Your faithfulness and attention will be rewarded.