Solemnity of the Annunciation: "the Lord himself will give you this sign"

the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel

-- Is 7:10-14; 8:10

Mary gave her consent in faith at the Annunciation and maintained it without hesitation at the foot of the Cross. Ever since, her motherhood has extended to the brothers and sisters of her Son "who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties." Jesus, the only mediator, is the way of our prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him: she "shows the way" (hodigitria), and is herself "the Sign" of the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West.

-- CCC 2674

Art: Fra Angelico, Annunciation, 1433-34. Tempera on wood, 150 x 180 cm,, Museo Diocesano, Cortona.