March twenty-fifth may be the most important day in salvation history. It is traditionally regarded as "the day of creation, the day when God's word decreed: 'Let there be light'" (Ratzinger, The Spirit of the Liturgy). It is the day Adam and Eve fell, the day Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac, the day the Israelites were led through the Red Sea, the day of Christ's crucifixion—and the day of the Annunciation, which we celebrate today.
Our Lady's fiat was foreshadowed from the very instant Adam and Eve were led out of the garden with the words, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel" (Genesis 3:15). Toil, thorns, and death may have lay ahead of them in the great unknown, but this "truly necessary sin of Adam" would be "destroyed completely by the Death of Christ," and this "happy fault" would earn "so great, so glorious a Redeemer." The road ahead may have been hidden, but the light at the end was not.
This moment was only the beginning of the story, for God's promise would echo through the centuries in the hearts of people who "believed, hoping against hope" (Romans 4:18). Abraham stepped out in fearless obedience, leading his family away from home and into the unknown. Despite his age, he trusted that he would be a father someday—and when God nearly called him to sacrifice his beloved son, he did so willingly. Moses led his people through the Red Sea and out of Egypt, despite his doubts and weaknesses. Even with their many failings, the Israelites followed the Lord into the wilderness, where only he could guide them.
At the Annunciation, the angel Gabriel asked Our Lady to take the next step into the unknown for the sake of all creation. "Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise…This is what the whole earth waits for" (St. Bernard of Clairvaux). He did not say that she would not suffer, or that her heart would not be pierced. He did not list all the twists and turns in the road ahead and show her how God would provide for her family along the way. He did not even guarantee that St. Joseph would be with her when her child was born—or when he died upon the cross on another March 25, when God fulfilled his promise from the dawning of the world.
What did the angel tell her? He spoke the words that still echo in the hearts of those who hope against hope, even when "all other lights [have gone] out." The words that give us the strength to move forward whenever we are called to take a shaking step into the unknown. The words that give us courage when we tell our Father that we are here to do his will, even if we can't understand where the road will lead or why we must take it. Do not be afraid. Nothing is impossible with God. God is with us—the Word made flesh, Emmanuel!