Posted on 03/25/2015 10:46:15 PM PDT by Steelfish
Because Mary Said “Yes…” — A Reflection For The Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord
March 25, 2011 by Fr. Thomas Rosica
Standing in the middle of the present day city of Nazareth is the mammoth Basilica of the Annunciation, built around what is believed to be the dwelling of Mary. In a grotto-like room at the heart of the basilica is a small inscription on an altar. It reads, “verbum caro hic factum est,” here the Word became flesh. There, it is believed, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, and her response changed the world forever.
Imagine yourself in Mary’s place, asked to say “yes” to a divine plan so vast, so profound and so seemingly impossible that you cannot comprehend it. “How can this be?” she asks, bewildered. She is rooted in the faith of her ancestors, and yet now an angel has appeared in the midst of everyday life, extending a startling invitation. “You have found favor with God,” the angel says, “and you will conceive and bear His Son.” Will she accept?
It is Mary above all others who can teach us what it means to live by faith, and how to respond when God’s providence disrupts the daily course of our lives, overturning its rhythms and expectations. Despite her fears and uncertainty over how this promise could be fulfilled, she still answered “Yes.” Are we able to respond to God this way?
When we reflect on the Annunciation to Mary, and her acceptance of the angel’s message, we also reflect on our own vocation — our own calling from God. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” — an echo of Mary’s “Be it done unto me according to your word.”
Each time we commit ourselves to embracing God’s call and accepting His will, we mark a new point on the path of our relationship with Him. For the rest of her life, Mary pondered her extraordinary encounter with God, turning the weight of the angel’s message over and over again in her heart. From the manger to the cross, Mary’s life was radically changed — her relationship with God profoundly deepened — the moment she said “Yes.”
Mary received and welcomed God’s Word in the fullest sense — becoming impregnated with it, and bearing it to the world. Angels might not appear in our doorsteps, but we do encounter God in each of our daily prayers, and he whispers to us a similar invitation: Will we accept His love and bring it joyously to those around us? Will we trust in His providence, even when we can’t see the path ahead? Amid the noise of everyday life, will we listen for and embrace his call?
When making his pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Annunciation, Pope Benedict XVI offered this prayer to the humble Virgin of Nazareth. It speaks for all of us who likewise seek to accept God’s will with joy:
Mary, Mother of the “Yes,” you listened to Jesus, and know the tone of his voice and the beating of his heart. Morning Star, speak to us of him, and tell us about your journey of following him on the path of faith."
Ah...
...I see.
Bonaventure: …the gates of heaven will open to all who confide in the protection of Mary. Blessed are they who know thee, O Mother of God, for the knowledge of THEE is the high road to everlasting life, and the publication of thy virtues is the way of ETERNAL SALVATION . Give ear, O ye nations; and all you who desire heaven , serve, honor Mary, and certainly you will find ETERNAL LIFE.
Ephem: …devotion to the divine Mother…is the unlocking of the heavenly Jerusalem.
Blosius: To the, O Lady, are committed the KEYS and the treasures of the kingdom of Heaven.
Ambrose: …constantly pray ‘Open to us, O Mary, the gates of paradise, since thou hast its KEYS.
Fulgetius: …by Mary God descended from Heaven into the world, that by HER man might ascend from earth to Heaven.
Athanasius: …And, thou, O Lady, wast filled with grace, that thou mightiest be the way of our SALVATION and the means of ascent to the heavenly Kingdom.
Richard of Laurence: Mary, in fine, is the mistress of heaven; for there she commands as she wills, and ADMITS whom she wills.
Guerric: …he who serves Mary and for whom she intercedes, is as CERTAIN of heaven as if he were already there…and those who DO NOT serve Mary will NOT BE SAVED.
Anselm: It suffices, O Lady, that thou willest it, and our SALVATION is certain.
Antoninus: …souls protected by Mary, and on which she casts her eyes, are NECESSARILY JUSTIFIED AND SAVED.
We're apparently improving!!
Where did you EVER get a crazy idea like that???
Thanks, RB, for the pictures. I’ll be using some of them again. They are wonderful!!
You've tried this canard before. Mr. Cram is NOT a "Protestant" authority about anything theologically "Protestant". According to his biography, he was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Adams_Cram). It was when he left for Rome at the age of 23 to study classical architecture, that during an 1887 Christmas Eve mass in Rome, he had a dramatic conversion experience. For the rest of his life, he practiced as a fervent Anglo-Catholic who identified as High Church Anglican.
His OPINION about "art" doesn't mean they are facts. To condemn ALL non-Catholic Christians over what could have been an overreaction to icon and idol worship rampant with Catholicism during and shortly after the Reformation hardly means ALL beauty of Divine and human artistry was abandoned. That's nothing more than propaganda. Cram asserted that if what he called beauty could be restored to the "offices of religion" it would automatically drive everyone back to Roman Catholicism only showed what a shallow and erroneous gospel he believed in the first place. Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is not dependent upon the works of men's hands - it is the work of the Holy Spirit to illuminate the truth to those whose hearts are seeking Him.
Of course she said "Yes". She said "Be it done unto me according to your Word."
"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt amongst us."
THe Lord our God is not Muhammad's Allah. He does not capture and impregnate women as reproductive concubines.
I’m sorry, could you point out the verse I missed about whether Mary had a choice in the matter? That she enthusiastically consented doesn’t mean she had an option not to.
Without Mary's consent, sexual invasion and impregnation against her will would have been rape. That is not what one does to a Blessed Woman.
Mary, like all of us, had a free will. If she had not consented, God would not have forced her.
Because God is not Muhammad.
God is Good.
All the time.
“It’s a god that is somehow responsible to created creatures.”
No, God simply loves. To love to will the good of another. God does. It is a pity that you apparently have no understanding of God or His love for us. I hope you get to know both.
“The RCC position on Mary being the ‘mother of God’ is classic misinterpretation of the scriptures.”
Nope. Jesus is God. Mary is His mother. There’s no misinterpretation there.
“Um, the place Mary is situated...”
She is not sitting on the Mercy Seat. That was the false claim.
“is exactly where the mercy seat is, above the lid of the Ark of the Covenant proper.”
Jesus is there. Jesus is God. Jesus is in Mary’s womb - Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant.
“As the “moon” is in direct contact with the lid of the Ark, there is no room for another mercy seat between the Ark and the moon.”
God is above the Mercy Seat - as He always was. Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant.
Rape is, in essence, the use of a woman's sexual capacities without her consent.
I am frankly appalled at the ugly picture I get of a 'god' who forces himself upon an innocent woman regardless of her consent. This is worthy of the koran and the hadiths.
What overwhelming shame.
Once again you’re wrong. Apparently you don’t know the difference between objectively sinful acts and imputability.
“You’ve tried this canard before.”
I’ve never tried a canard. Do you fry those or bake them?
“Mr. Cram is NOT a “Protestant” authority about anything theologically “Protestant”.”
He was a Protestant authority. Deal with it.
What he said in the quote is true.
Mary was beautifully prefigured by the Ark of the Covenant .
The Ark carried sacred objects --- flakes of manna and the tablets of the Law --- associated with God's saving work toward the Hebrew people. And Mary carried not manna, but the Living Bread; not the Law, but the Lawgiver; she carried not just the saving of the Hebrew people, but the Savior of the World.
As usual nothing you posted in any way proves anything I said to be incorrect. Again, the fact that we believe Mary intercedes for us or is a mediatrix of graces does not mean we worship her. Moses interceded with God for the Israelites. That doesn’t mean the Israelites worshiped Moses. What I just wrote is perfectly logical. How logical will your response be?
The anti-Mary and anti-God imagery expressed on this thread have become almost unbearably repulsive.
If anyone, God forbid, gets to be with the Rapist Entity they worship forever and ever, it will not be God and it will not be Heaven.
“Mary is the New Ark of the Covenant.”
No, there is no “New Ark”, there is only one Ark of the Covenant, so anyone talking about a “New Ark” is telling fables created by men.
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