LISTEN: Three Meditations on the Annunciation
The Annunciation marks the central fact of the whole universe – the Incarnation of Christ. What was it like before, during and after this momentous event?
The Annunciation marks the central fact of the whole universe – the Incarnation of Christ. What was the world like before, during and after this momentous event?
The Central Fact of History
The Incarnation of Christ is the central fact of history, which can justly be divided into before and after this event. Bishop Richard Challoner, one of the great Vicars Apostolic of England, and responsible for the version of the Douay-Rheims Bible which so many Catholics use, wrote this:
“[W]e celebrate, in the Virgin’s womb, the sacred wedding of our human nature with the divine person of the Son of God, to the feast of which we are invited, ‘Thus the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt amongst us.’
“This great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God is the original source of all our good; in making God man, it has made man God. The Son of God, by taking upon him our humanity, makes us partakers of his divinity.
“He comes to be our Saviour and our Redeemer, to deliver us from all our evils; he comes to be our advocate, and our physician; he comes to be our father and our friend; he comes to be our king and our priest, and to make us kings and priests to his Father. He stoops down to our dust, to raise us up from the dust, and to bring us to sit down with him on his throne.”
At the end of 2025, The WM Review produced a series of meditations based on St Louis de Montfort’s Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary, drawing on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola.
In this series, we devoted three days to this mystery – considering:
Our Lady and the world before the Incarnation
The Annunciation itself
Our Lord’s life in the womb of the Blessed Virgin after this event
To mark this feast of the Annunciation, we are re-publishing those three meditations. You can find the points for meditation and further instructions in the links below.
Three Meditations on the Incarnation and Annunciation
1. What was Our Lady like, just before the Annunciation?
How did God prepare the Blessed Virgin Mary for the most momentous event in her life to date, and the turning point of the history of the world? And what was the world like on the eve of the Annunciation?
2: The central fact of the whole universe – The Incarnation of Christ
This is the moment that the Blessed Virgin Mary became the first and highest ranking soldier in Christ’s army.
3: The blessed womb of Mary – Where Christ began the redemption
Our Lord’s time in the womb was not like that of other babies – neither for him, nor his Mother.
BONUS: The Full Preparation for Total Consecration series
A 33-day preparation according to the method of St Louis de Montfort, drawing on the Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius Loyola.
Preparing for Total Consecration to the Blessed Virgin Mary – The WM Review’s series
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Thank you for these meditations.
Blessings from Aus.
I wonder why, since the Incarnation took place at the Annunciation, that it is not a solemnity & Holy Day of Obligation, since the Incarnation is a greater event than Jesus's birth & even of His Resurrection.