Posted on 04/04/2005 8:12:58 AM PDT by Salvation
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1592-96; Oil on canvas;
S. Maria degli Angeli, Perugia, Italy
Thank you! The picture is beautiful!
Rome's Next Choice? [TIME: "Arch-Conservative" Ratzinger is top Papabile]
Lent in the Vatican: The Pope, the Curia, and the Conclave ( Who's On First )
WILL INDIAN PONTIFF SUCCEED POPE?
POPE: 117 CARDINALS ON STANDBY FOR CONCLAVE
Papal Transition (what happens between one pope and the next)
Vatican Bracing for Papal Succession
When Sad Day Comes, Eyes of World Will Be on Papal Selection [How next Pope will be chosen]
Mahony Flies To Rome For Solemnities, Conclave (Cardinal from Los Angeles to Visit Vatican)
Interview with Cardinal José Saraiva Martins
Cardinals Head to Vatican for Conclave
Pope's Election Shocked Communist Poland ~~ On an icy October night a quarter-century ago.....
From: Hebrews 10:4-10
The Sacrifices of the Old Covenant Could
Not Take Away Sins (Continuation)
From: Luke 1:26-38
The Annunciation and Incarnation of the Son of God
Feast of the Annunciation
For nearly 1,500 years Christians have celebrated the Annunciation on March 25. Besides being nine months before Christmas, it is also the time of the year when daylight gradually increases appropriate for the feast celebrating the conception of the Light of the World.
This year, however, because March 25 was Good Friday, the Church transferred the Annunciation to today, Monday of the Second Week of Easter.
Monday, April 4, 2005 The Annunciation of the Lord (Solemnity) |
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April 04, 2005 ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord Old Calendar: Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (March 25)
The Annunciation ![]() In the garden of delights there is a virgin and an angel; and a conversation takes place-between them. At Nazareth a virgin is also addressed by an angel, and she answers him; but the angel of the earthly paradise is a spirit of darkness, and he of Nazareth is a spirit of light. In both instances it is the angel that has the first word. 'Why,' said the serpent to Eve, 'hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every tree of paradise?' His question implies impatience and a solicitation to evil; he has contempt for the frail creature to whom he addresses it, but he hates the image of God which is upon her. See, on the other hand, the angel of light; see with what composure and peacefulness he approaches the Virgin of Nazareth, the new Eve; and how respectfully he bows himself down before her: 'Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women!' Such language is evidently of heaven: none but an angel could speak thus to Mary. Scarcely has the wicked spirit finished speaking than Eve casts a longing look at the forbidden fruit: she is impatient to enjoy the independence it is to bring her. She rashly stretches forth her hand; she plucks the fruit; she eats it, and death takes possession of her: death of the soul, for sin extinguishes the light of life; and death of the body, which being separated from the source of immortality, becomes an object of shame and horror, and finally crumbles into dust. But let us turn away our eyes from this sad spectacle, and fix them on Nazareth. Mary has heard the angel's explanation of the mystery; the will of heaven is made known to her, and how grand an honor it is to bring upon her! She, the humble maid of Nazareth, is to have the ineffable happiness of becoming the Mother of God, and yet the treasure of her virginity is to be left to her! Mary bows down before this sovereign will, and says to the heavenly messenger: 'Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word.'
Never was there a more entire or humiliating defeat than that which this day befell satan. The frail creature, over whom he had so easily triumphed at the beginning of the world, now rises and crushes his proud head. Eve conquers in Mary. God would not choose man for the instrument of His vengeance; the humiliation of satan would not have been great enough; and therefore she who was the first prey of hell, the first victim of the tempter, is selected to give battle to the enemy. The result of so glorious a triumph is that Mary is to be superior not only to the rebel angels, but to the whole human race, yea, to all the angels of heaven. Seated on her exalted throne, she, the Mother of God, is to be the Queen of all creation. Satan, in the depths of the abyss, will eternally bewail his having dared to direct his first attack against the woman, for God has now so gloriously avenged her; and in heaven, the very Cherubim and Seraphim reverently look up to Mary, and deem themselves honored when she smiles upon them, or employs them in the execution of any of her wishes, for she is the Mother of their God. Therefore is it that we, the children of Adam, who have been snatched by Mary's obedience from the power of hell, solemnize this day of the Annunciation. Well may we say of Mary those words of Debbora, when she sang her song of victory over the enemies of God's people: 'The valiant men ceased, and rested in Israel, until Debbora arose, a mother arose in Israel. The Lord chose new wars, and He Himself overthrew the gates of the enemies." Let us also refer to the holy Mother of Jesus these words of Judith, who by her victory over the enemy was another type of Mary: 'Praise ye the Lord our God, who hath not forsaken them that hope in Him. And by me, His handmaid, He hath fulfilled His mercy, which He promised to the house of Israel; and He hath killed the enemy of His people by my hand this night. . . . The almighty Lord hath struck him, and hath delivered him into the hands of a woman, and hath slain him.' The Liturgical Year, Abbot Gueranger O.S.B. Things to Do:
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Isaiah 7:10-14; Luke 1:26-38 Three men were pacing nervously outside the delivery room at a hospital when the head nurse cam out beaming. To the first she said, "Congratulations, sir, you are the father of twins." "Terrific!" said the man, "I just signed a contract with the Minnesota Twins and this'll be great press." To the second man the nurse said, "Congratulations to you too. You are the father of healthy triplets!" "Fantastic!" he said. "I'm the vice-president of 3-M Company. This'll be great P.R.!" At that point the third man turned ashen and ran for the door. "What's wrong, sir? Where are you going?" called the nurse. As he jumped into his car, the man shouted, "I'm dashing to my office to resign. I'm the president of 7-UP!" + + + Run for the hills! This can't be! That's exactly what Mary was feeling as she listened to the angel spell out what God wanted of her: "Virgin birth?! Are you crazy? Who's going to believe that? I'll be stoned to death as soon as the neighbors see I'm pregnant! Dear God, what are you asking of me?" We know the feeling: "Dear God, what are you asking of me? How can I make a life out of this pile of junk you've given me? How am I going to survive till the end of the year till the end of the week? How am I ever going to make a silk purse, when I don't even have a sow's ear? It's impossible, absolutely impossible!" We've felt that and said that often enough. But it isn't true, as Mary showed us: Her whole being was so profoundly open to the Spirit that God filled her entirely with His own life and Jesus our Savior was conceived in her womb the impossible happened. So it can be with us who are daunted by life's "impossibilities." The key, as Mary learned, is not trying to do it all by ourselves: Working alone is a recipe for failure. The key to doing the impossible is learning how to let God in and let God lead; learning how to listen to Him and to see the world through his eyes; learning with His help to re-imagine our lives and to sing the words of a new song; learning from Him how to grow our minds and our hearts very large. With God as our mentor and guide, our wisdom, our courage and our strength, with God as our partner, nothing is impossible. What a tragedy it would be to languish forever in a world of small hearts and tiny visions, a world of impossibilities. The choice is ours! And God is listening for our "Yes," just as He listened for Mary's. He is ready a waiting to fill us very, very full! |
Monday April 4, 2005 Feast of the Annunciation (Observed)
Reading I (Isaiah 7:10-14) Reading II (Hebrews 10:4-10)
Gospel (St. Luke 1:26-38)
As we celebrate today the Feast of the Annunciation, it is really the celebration of the Incarnation of Christ. So many people mistakenly think that the Incarnation took place on Christmas. It did not; it took place on the 25th of March. Now we are celebrating it today because the 25th of March fell during Holy Week, and so the Church transferred the feast to today. However, the Feast of the Annunciation is the day that Our Lord became flesh in the womb of His mother. As we heard the angel coming to our Blessed Lady and asking her if she would be willing to be the Mother of God, thanks be to God for Our Ladys fiat: Let it be done to me according to thy word. It was in this that Our Lord became man.
He Who is God from all eternity, He Who is a Divine Person, the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, humbled Himself and condescended to become one of us, to take our human nature to Himself. Not to become a human person, because He did not; He became a human being but not a human person. He is a Divine Person and He can only be one person. Therefore, since He is a Divine Person from all eternity, that did not change. What He did was to take a human nature to Himself. That means He took a human body that had human blood and a human soul. He did not take a human personality; He had His Divine personality. And so His Divinity was then united by a humanity, and the two in a substantial manner the humanity and the Divinity of Christ make up the perfect union of one Person. He is not two persons; He is one Person.
But in the Incarnation, He then has a Divine mind and He has a human mind. He has a Divine will and He has a human will. Two minds and two wills, but only one Person. So He can operate as God and He can operate as man. And in the perfection of the union of one Person, these two natures did not interfere with one another at all. They remained completely separate and unimpaired; they did not in any way interfere with one anothers working. But He was able, as only God could, to operate on two different levels in the perfect unity of one single Person. That is what we celebrate today: the feast of God becoming man, the feast of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ at the Annunciation.
And thanks be to God for our Blessed Lady, who, even though it did not make sense to her how she could conceive as a virgin, was willing to say yes so that the Holy Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father and the Son, would have an opportunity to become life-giving in our Blessed Lady, so that the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, from Whom the Holy Spirit proceeds, would now be conceived in the womb of Our Lady through the power of the Holy Spirit.
This is an astounding thing, and it is something which we will meditate upon for the rest of eternity, assuming that we go the right direction. There will be no end to the meditation on the Incarnation because it is an absolute mystery, one which we will never be able to understand even in heaven. We can grasp parts of it, but because it deals with the Divine nature itself, we will never come to the end of it. The wonderful part, if you just want to ponder this one for awhile, is that even in His humanity Jesus does not understand the Incarnation perfectly. In His Divinity, He does; in His humanity, He does not. And so for all eternity, because it is an infinite mystery and His human nature is finite, He too will ponder this mystery of the Incarnation in His human nature, in His human mind, and will never understand it completely. In His Divinity, of course, He understands it fully and perfectly. So, for all eternity, we will be able to look at Jesus and we will never come to the end. There will always be more.
We can start now to place ourselves in front of the Blessed Sacrament, to look at Him Who is both God and man, and to meditate upon this mystery of our salvation, that mystery which began in the most full way at the moment of the Annunciation, when, thanks be to God, the grace was given to Our Lady to accept the humility of God and to say yes so that He would be conceived in her womb and we would be saved.
* This text was transcribed from the audio recording with minimal editing.
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Monday, April 04, 2005 Meditation Luke 1:26-38 The Annunciation of the Lord A lot of people seem to be looking for secrets to help them achieve their goals in life. Bookstores carry a wide array of self-help publications. Radio and television talk shows remain popular as guests and listeners continue the search for success. Everyone seems to be searching. However, once we decide to seek Gods will in our lives, we dont have to look too far for good advice. Scripture is filled with models of faith and discernment, and no model could be greater than the Virgin Mary. Luke describes four responses Mary gave to the angels invitation to become the Mother of God. First, she was troubled. Then she pondered what his words meant. Then she asked honest, sincere questions. Finally, she gave her fiat, or consent to Gods will. What a remarkable pattern we all can follow as we face difficult or challenging situations where we need to discern Gods will. Life is full of disturbing situations, and as Mary shows us, there is nothing wrong with being troubled or worried by what we think God is placing before us. Like the Blessed Mother, we too can take our challenges to prayer to see how these situations can help us grow in knowing God better and in following him more faithfully. Imagine, for instance, what might have happened if Mary had not taken the timeor had the courageto ponder the angels words and ask him questions. Its possible she would have been tempted to quit at the first sign of trouble. But because she pressed onday after day, long after the angels visitshe was far better equipped to embrace her role, even when it put her family in danger. Pondering Gods call means that we meditate and dwell on the words of Scripture each day. It means trying to fix our eyes on Jesus in prayer so that we can hear his still, small voice. It means asking, seeking, and knocking on heavens door so that we can be filled with Gods wisdom and grace. In prayer today, lets ask Mary to intercede for us. Lets ask her to ask our Father to give us the same openness to his Spirit that she had throughout her life. Lord, because you have chosen me, I want to echo Marys faithful response. Be it done to me according to your word. Isaiah 7:10-14; 8:10; Psalm 40:7-11; Hebrews 10:4-10 |
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Lk 1:26-38 | ||
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# | Douay-Rheims | Vulgate |
26 | And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, | in mense autem sexto missus est angelus Gabrihel a Deo in civitatem Galilaeae cui nomen Nazareth |
27 | To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin's name was Mary. | ad virginem desponsatam viro cui nomen erat Ioseph de domo David et nomen virginis Maria |
28 | And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. | et ingressus angelus ad eam dixit have gratia plena Dominus tecum benedicta tu in mulieribus |
29 | Who having heard, was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. | quae cum vidisset turbata est in sermone eius et cogitabat qualis esset ista salutatio |
30 | And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. | et ait angelus ei ne timeas Maria invenisti enim gratiam apud Deum |
31 | Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. | ecce concipies in utero et paries filium et vocabis nomen eius Iesum |
32 | He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. | hic erit magnus et Filius Altissimi vocabitur et dabit illi Dominus Deus sedem David patris eius |
33 | And of his kingdom there shall be no end. | et regnabit in domo Iacob in aeternum et regni eius non erit finis |
34 | And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? | dixit autem Maria ad angelum quomodo fiet istud quoniam virum non cognosco |
35 | And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. | et respondens angelus dixit ei Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi ideoque et quod nascetur sanctum vocabitur Filius Dei |
36 | And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren. | et ecce Elisabeth cognata tua et ipsa concepit filium in senecta sua et hic mensis est sextus illi quae vocatur sterilis |
37 | Because no word shall be impossible with God. | quia non erit inpossibile apud Deum omne verbum |
38 | And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. | dixit autem Maria ecce ancilla Domini fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum et discessit ab illa angelus |
(*) vv 32-33 breakdown differs.
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