Today we are invited once again to recall and meditate on the moment when our Christmas joy began to enter our human history: the Annunciation to Mary. The Incarnation has its true origin in eternity in the eternal love of God, who created us and desires that we will be what he created us to be in his divine image and likeness.

Did the Son of God only become man because of Adam's sin? That question is sometimes pondered and, from the accounts in Genesis it seems an acceptable answer that that is so. But then it seems as if God's loving action of giving his son was dependent on human sin, which some theologians will see as somewhat unacceptable. There is, then, another thought: that Jesus would indeed have become man in order to be our way to the Father, for even without sin we are still very limited as creatures and need God's very concrete guidance. On this earth we will never know the answer, but that does not reduce our capacity for rejoicing in the birth of Jesus, which Mary of Nazareth made possible for us by her generosity and courage.