6 December 2026 · Syro-Malabar Rite
Open in the Daily Word appAlso: Latin Rite · Syro-Malankara Rite · മലയാളം
“Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:38
The second Sunday of the season brings us to the heart of the Annunciation: Gabriel is sent to Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to Joseph, of the house of David. “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” Mary is troubled, asks how this can be, and receives the answer: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Then she says the word on which our salvation turns: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
The Old Testament reading offers a surprising contrast. Balaam, a foreign seer hired to curse Israel, cannot see the angel of the Lord standing in his path; even his donkey sees more than he does. Only when the Lord opens his eyes does he bow down, and then he says: “The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.” Balaam obeys God's word reluctantly; Mary welcomes it freely. Balaam later prophesies, “A star shall come out of Jacob” (Numbers 24:17); Mary gives birth to that Star.
Isaiah promises that God will blot out transgressions and “pour my spirit upon your descendants.” At Nazareth that promise begins: the Spirit comes upon Mary, and the Word becomes flesh in her womb. Paul asks the Colossians to pray “that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ.” Mary is the first open door for the Word.
Our Church loves Mary because she shows what every Christian is called to be: a listener who becomes a bearer of Christ. In this season, her “yes” is the model for ours.
Theme: “Let it be with me according to your word.”
The Annunciation to Mary, contrasted with Balaam who could not see the angel; Isaiah's promise of the Spirit fulfilled in Nazareth.
“Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road, with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed down, falling on his face.” Numbers 22:31
“And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”” Luke 1:28
Apply: Ask God each morning to open your eyes to his presence.
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.” Isaiah 44:3
“The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”” Luke 1:35
Apply: Pray to the Holy Spirit daily until Christmas.
“Balaam said to Balak, “I have come to you now, but do I have power to say just anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.”” Numbers 22:38
“Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:38
Apply: Say yes today to one thing God asks of you.
Mary's yes opened the door to the Word.
Let our yes open our hearts to Christ this Christmas.
Take-home resolution: Pray the Angelus at noon every day until Christmas.
Dear brothers and sisters, on this second Sunday of Annunciation we enter the house of Nazareth. The angel Gabriel greets a young woman: “Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.” He tells her she will bear a son, the Son of the Most High, whose kingdom will have no end.
Mary is not a passive listener. She asks, “How can this be?” The angel explains: the Holy Spirit will come upon you. And then Mary says the most important word ever spoken by a human being: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” With that yes, God became man.
The first reading tells a strange story. Balaam, a famous prophet, rides along a road and cannot see the angel blocking his path. His donkey sees the angel; the prophet does not. Only when God opens his eyes does Balaam understand. How often we are like Balaam: busy, blind, going our own way, while God stands in front of us.
Mary is the opposite of Balaam. She sees, she listens, she says yes. Isaiah promised: “I will pour my spirit upon your descendants.” At Nazareth that promise came true. And the same Spirit comes upon the bread and wine at every Qurbana and upon us.
This week, let us ask God to open our eyes, and let us learn Mary's word: “Let it be with me according to your word.” Let us pray the Angelus each day and say yes to God in one concrete thing. Then Christ will be born again in us. Amen.
Children, an angel came to a young girl named Mary and told her some amazing news: she would be the mother of Jesus, God's Son!
Mary could have said no. But she said, “Yes! I am God's servant.” Because Mary said yes, Jesus came into the world.
Let's say yes to God like Mary. Say together: “Yes, Jesus, I love you!”
Lord God, you sent your angel to the Virgin of Nazareth, and through her yes your Word became flesh. Open the eyes of our hearts, pour your Spirit upon us, and make us, like Mary, servants who welcome your word and bring Christ to others. Amen.
On the second Sunday of Suvara the Church hears the announcement itself. The readings prepare for it by asking who is able to receive a word from God. In Numbers, an angel stands in the road, and a famous seer cannot see him though his donkey can. In Isaiah, God promises to pour out his Spirit on a guilty and thirsty people. In Colossians, Paul asks for a door for the word. In Luke, the angel comes to a young woman in Nazareth, she listens, and the Word becomes flesh within her. The key words are seeing, pouring out and consenting.
Setting.
Israel has reached the plains of Moab, near the end of the desert journey (22:1). Balak, king of Moab, is afraid of them, and sends for Balaam son of Beor, a famous seer from far away, to curse them (22:2–6). Balaam is not an Israelite. An inscription found in 1967 at Deir Alla in Jordan speaks of a seer called Balaam son of Beor, so his name was known outside the Bible.
God has first told Balaam not to go (22:12). In today’s reading he allows it (v. 20), then is angry that he goes (v. 22). Scholars note the tension: the story may join older traditions, and it also suggests that God sees the heart of a man who keeps asking until he hears the answer he wants. Later Scripture remembers him as one “who loved the wages of doing wrong” (2 Peter 2:15; compare Jude 11).
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“If the men have come to summon you, get up and go with them; but do only what I tell you to do.” (22:20)
This is the condition of the whole story. Balaam may go, but the word will not be his to sell.
“The donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road, with a drawn sword in his hand” (22:23)
The story is full of humour. The man paid to see the unseen is the only one who cannot see. Three times the donkey saves him, and three times he strikes it.
“Then the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and it said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”” (22:28)
The animal’s question is more reasonable than its master’s reply. God can speak by the lowliest means when those who should hear have stopped listening.
“Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road” (22:31)
Balaam’s first words now are “I have sinned” (v. 34). He has seen what he had missed, and he must carry only God’s word: in chapters 23–24 he blesses the people he was paid to curse.
How the Church reads it.
2 Peter 2:15–16 uses this story as a warning against those who preach for gain. Balaam’s later oracle, “a star shall come out of Jacob” (24:17), was read by Jews and Christians alike as pointing to the Messiah, and Origen connects it with the star of the Magi (in substance). The Church sees here the lesson Jesus gives thanks for: God reveals himself to the lowly (Luke 10:21). On this Sunday the contrast is clear: the seer who could not see the angel, and the unknown girl who receives him.
Setting.
These verses speak to the exiles in Babylon (Isaiah 40–55). They knew why Jerusalem had fallen, and they wondered if there could be any future for a people so guilty. The passage has two movements. First comes a courtroom scene in which God proves the case against Israel and then forgives the debt. Then comes a promise, marked by “But now hear” (44:1), of water, Spirit and new growth.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.” (43:25)
“For my own sake”: forgiveness is grounded in who God is, not in what Israel can offer. A note on translation: In v. 28 the Hebrew has “I profaned the princes of the sanctuary”, which the NRSV follows, while the ancient Greek has the princes profaning the holy things, close to the Malayalam POC. Both describe the same catastrophe.
“For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my spirit upon your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.” (44:3)
In dry country, water means life. Water and the Spirit stand side by side in this verse, as they will in John 3:5 and in the font of baptism.
“yet another will write on the hand, “The Lord’s,”” (44:5)
A mark on the hand showed whose a person was. The exile’s shame becomes something people will be glad to claim. These may be foreigners joining Israel or Israelites returning to their name; either way, belonging is now a joy.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism teaches that only God forgives sins (CCC 1441) and that the prophets’ promises of the Spirit look forward to the Messiah and to the whole messianic people (CCC 715, 1287). It explains the seal of Confirmation with the same picture as 44:5: a seal is a sign of ownership, as soldiers were marked with their leader’s seal (CCC 1295). On a Sunday of Suvara, the promise of Spirit on dry ground prepares for the Spirit who comes upon Mary (Luke 1:35).
Setting.
These are the last instructions of the letter, before the greetings (4:7–18). After teaching the household about daily life (3:18–4:1), Paul turns to the two things that link the Christian to God and to those outside: prayer and speech. He writes in chains: “for which I am in prison”. The letter is sent in his name (4:18); on the question of authorship, Catholic scholars differ.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with thanksgiving.” (4:2)
Alert prayer recalls the Lord’s word in the garden: “Keep awake and pray” (Mark 14:38). Thanksgiving keeps prayer from becoming only a list of needs.
“At the same time pray for us as well that God will open to us a door for the word, that we may declare the mystery of Christ, for which I am in prison,” (4:3)
“The mystery of Christ” is God’s plan, once hidden and now revealed: “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (1:27). Today’s Gospel shows that mystery beginning in the womb of Mary.
“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.” (4:6)
“Gracious” is literally “in grace”. Salt brings out flavour and preserves, and it recalls Jesus’ word in Mark 9:50. The Malayalam POC gives the sense without the picture of salt. The Christian’s speech should have some taste to it, and should be kind without being empty.
How the Church reads it.
The Catechism’s section on persevering prayer, “Pray constantly”, is built on texts like this one (CCC 2742–2745). The Second Vatican Council takes up Paul’s phrase in its decree on mission: wherever God opens a door for the word, the mystery of Christ is to be proclaimed to all (Ad Gentes 13). 1 Peter 3:15 gives the same advice: always be ready to answer, “with gentleness and reverence” (3:16).
Setting.
Last Sunday’s Gospel told of Gabriel’s visit to Zechariah in the Temple. Luke now sets the second scene against it. Then, an old priest in Jerusalem; now, a young woman in Nazareth, a town the Old Testament never mentions. Then, a couple past child-bearing; now, a virgin. Then, doubt and silence; now, a question and consent.
Mary is “engaged”. A Jewish betrothal was a binding legal bond, and the woman normally stayed in her family’s home for a time before moving to her husband’s. Joseph is “of the house of David”, and this is how Jesus will belong legally to David’s line.
Structure.
Key words.
Verse by verse.
“And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”” (1:28)
Chaire, “greetings”, was an ordinary greeting, but it means “rejoice”. Many scholars hear behind it the prophets’ call to daughter Zion (Zephaniah 3:14). “The Lord is with you” are words said in the Old Testament to those given a task beyond their strength.
“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.” (1:32)
Here the promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:12–16 is taken up. At the same time v. 35 goes beyond it: he is “Son of God”, in a way no king of Israel ever was.
“Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”” (1:34)
The Greek says “since I do not know a man”, as the Malayalam POC does. St Augustine and others took her question to mean that she had resolved to remain a virgin (in substance). Luke’s text does not say so directly, but what it clearly teaches is that the child’s conception is the work of the Spirit, without a human father (CCC 496–497).
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” (1:35)
The promised Spirit of Isaiah 44:3 comes down here. Father, Son and Spirit are all named in this one scene.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.” (1:37)
An echo of what was said about Sarah: “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14). Last Sunday’s Genesis story was the same promise.
“Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”” (1:38)
“Servant” here means a slave woman, a title of humility and also of honour, like the “servants of the Lord” of Israel’s history. God does not take flesh without being welcomed.
How the Church reads it.
The Second Vatican Council teaches that the Father willed the Incarnation to be preceded by the consent of the predestined mother (Lumen Gentium 56; CCC 488, 494). St Irenaeus, quoted there, says that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience. St Ephrem the Syrian sings that death entered through Eve’s ear, and that through Mary’s ear the Word entered (in substance). St Bernard, in his fourth homily in praise of the Virgin Mother, pictures all creation waiting for her answer: “Answer quickly, O Virgin”. The Catechism sees in the angel’s greeting the Church’s growing understanding that Mary was “full of grace” from the first moment of her life (CCC 490–491).
Did the donkey really speak?
The Church has given no ruling on this detail. The Church asks us first to consider what kind of writing we are reading (Dei Verbum 12). 2 Peter 2:16 mentions the event, and many readers take it as told. Others read the story as a vivid popular narrative with a touch of humour. Either way the teaching is the same: the prophet who thinks that he sees everything is corrected by the humblest of creatures, and he can say only what God gives him to say.
Is “full of grace” a good translation, and does this verse teach the Immaculate Conception?
“Favored one” and “full of grace” both translate one Greek word, which says that Mary has been and remains filled with God’s favour. The verse alone does not state the doctrine. The Church, reflecting on it over the centuries, came to understand that to be so graced for this mission, Mary was redeemed from the moment of her conception (CCC 490–492), and Pope Pius IX defined this in 1854. The feast comes this Tuesday, 8 December.
Could Mary have said no?
Yes. The Church insists that her consent was real: she was not used as an instrument but cooperated by faith and obedience (Lumen Gentium 56; CCC 494). The fullness of grace did not lessen her humanity. It set her fully able to answer God, as the angel’s courteous greeting and her careful question show.
In the East Syriac year, Suvara means the announcement, and its Sundays are built around God’s messages to Zechariah, Mary and Joseph. Today’s Gospel is the heart of the season, and the Twenty-five Day Fast continues around it. The East Syriac tradition loves the Fathers’ poetry on this mystery. St Ephrem’s picture of the ear is a good one for us, who come to the Holy Qurbana first to listen: Mary heard, consented and bore the Word, and we hear the same Word proclaimed, and receive him at the altar. The Bema, the place of the word in the East Syriac tradition, reminds us that a Church must first be a listening Church.