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 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 a man because of Adam's sin? That question is sometimes pondered, and from the accounts in Genesis, it seems an acceptable answer that it is so. But then, it seems that God's loving act of giving His Son depended on human sin, which some theologians will see as somewhat unacceptable. There is, then, another thought: that Jesus would indeed have become man to be our way to the Father, for even without sin, we are still constrained 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 through her generosity and courage.