March 25
The Blessed Virgin is in prayer when she receives the message from the Archangel. I, too, must listen to the voice of God in the midst of my daily concerns. I want to be a contemplative soul: my cell is the street. "In the middle of my work my heart escapes to God, it goes often to the oratory, and I tell him, without anyone hearing me, without doing anything strange: 'My Jesus, I love you.' Don't be afraid to call him Jesus, to call him that often." St Josemaria

The Blessed Virgin listens to the voice of God, and she meditates on His words in her heart. And as soon as she becomes aware of what the Will of God is, she prepares to carry it out. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord": is her disposition to serve. "Be it done unto me according to thy word": is her desire to conceive the Son of God.

In the words of our Lady there is a tone of resolve, of firmness, of something finished, definitive. She does not respond with a mere yes to the divine Will, but with a fiat! – let it be done! – which expresses an active and total conformity to what God is asking of her. It is much more than a mere giving of permission. It is a resolute adherence to the plan of God, a commitment of her whole life without wavering.

Lord, I want to love you, but sometimes I do not know the way well, or I let myself be carried away by my own interest; therefore, like the tax collector, I ask you: Have mercy on me! And hear my prayer.