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."
“You’ve been entertaining, but tiresome. I hope one day you’ll come out of the apostate Cult.”
God saved me from every becoming a Protestant so your hope was fulfilled a long time ago. I hope you leave your man-made sect (or cult), but I don’t think that will ever happen.
From the homepage!
Your church does the same in its official stat,ent of faith called the Catechism of the Catholic church.
As a practicing Catholic, you have no choice but to agree with it.
Your church does the same in its official statement of faith called the Catechism of the Catholic church.
As a practicing Catholic, you have no choice but to agree with it.
“Your church does the same in its official stat,ent of faith called the Catechism of the Catholic church.”
And?
“As a practicing Catholic, you have no choice but to agree with it.”
Did I ever once said I didn’t? The simple point is that all the people attacking the Catholic Church here ALSO profess to believe in the God of Abraham - and Muslims do too.
And again, did I ever once said I didn’t? The simple point is that all the people attacking the Catholic Church here ALSO profess to believe in the God of Abraham - and Muslims do too.
**Jesus is God. Mary is His mother. Mary is the mother of God. There’s no way to overturn that.**
So Mary made more of God. To be ‘mother’ of something means to have brought forth something that did not previously exist.
You admitted that she didn’t make the soul, or the Father that is in him, so that leaves the flesh, which didn’t exist before conception. So, by your logic, Mary made more of God, who said, “I change not”. Anyway, is that how you believe Mary to be the ‘mother of God’?
(you are welcome to use scripture to answer)
**And in typical catholic fashion....they cannot address the issue as to whether the statement is true or not. Every correction of the false teachings of catholicism is anti-catholic. So they attack the messenger.**
Well, that’s what you get for using too much scripture. You are only supposed to use 10% percent. Kinda like experts say we only use about that much of our brain.
“You are using far more scripture than your fair share.” B.H.O.
(you don’t think he said that?....well,...I could imagine him saying it!)
Glad to see you agree that the title belonging SOLELY to Mary is "the Mother of God With Us". That has a much clearer meaning than calling her Mother of God and it eliminates the need to clarify that she isn't the mother of the Father or the Holy Spirit that the title Mother of God provokes.
Bible Concordance
Blessed (338 Occurrences)
Luke 11:27-28 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
27 While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” 28 But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Isaiah 8:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
John 20:29: Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”
Genesis 22:18 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
I believe and am Blessed just as God told Abraham that all would be blessed through him, but please don’t pray to me.
“Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org)
Sorry, Muslims do not believe in Yaweh. No way, no how.
Scripture disagrees, if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God then you don’t worship the God of Abraham, but a demon. You may acknowledge God and/or Jesus as Muslims say he was a prophet, but that doesn’t mean Salvation by any means.
James 2:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
John 8:19 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
19 So they were saying to Him, “Where is Your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also.”
“Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org)
“Scripture disagrees, if you don’t accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God then you don’t worship the God of Abraham, but a demon.”
Okay, so according to you all Jews who believe they are worshiping Yahweh are actually worshiping demons. Make sure and tell that to the Protestants here. Thanks.
All this back and forth over the word "profess" is completely missing the point made back over two hundred posts ago. Yes, Muslims "profess" to believe in the God of Abraham - no one has denied that - but the real problem in agreeing with the Roman Catholic Catechism's statement is not that part but the phrase, "Together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind’s judge on the last day.".
The Catechism goes on to say, "The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even his inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God."
The objection all along has NOT been about who Muslims "profess" to believe in but that the RCC regards Muslims with "esteem" and agrees that Catholics worship the same god as they do. Until this error is dealt with, we could continue to play semantic games and NEVER get to the point. Christians DO NOT worship the same god as Muslims, no matter who they profess him to be. The false god, Allah, is NOT Jehovah, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - the only true God.
Muslims are a part of Islam.
When they "profess" belief in the God of Abraham, they are lying.
Their "god" is Allah, who is NOT the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph.
The pope says that Catholics worship the same "God" that the Muslims worship.
I was surprised when the pope, the leader of the Catholic church, pronounced the merging of the real God with the god of Islam.
It has been posted here many times that everyone (even non Catholics) must be subject to the pope.
Of course Christians not affiliated with the Catholic denomination do not have to be subject to the pope and what he decrees.
The only good thing that may come of his misstatement is that it may drive many to Christianity when they find out the pope was wrong.
The "merged" "God" of the pope does not exist. Worship the God of the Bible only. Our God is a jealous God, he does not want worship of any other entity.
Amen, thanks!
Muslims lie. That is what they do whenever it suits them.
They hate the God of the Bible, Jews, and Christians.
They might like Catholicism now because the pope has opened up worship of their false god by all his followers.
I’m not saying it I don’t have that authority, but the Scripture of God is indeed saying that.
John 8:55-56 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
55 and you have not come to know Him, but I know Him; and if I say that I do not know Him, I will be a liar like you, but I do know Him and keep His word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”
John 12:48 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
48 He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
John 5:45-47 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
“Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org)
There is only one way to Heaven and no matter who, how, or what you are born into will not change that.
John 14:6 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Matthew 12:30 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
The Unpardonable Sin
30 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
Luke 11:23 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
23 He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.
“Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,
1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Used by permission.” (www.Lockman.org)
You are correct sir. Muzzies say they believe in the God of Abraham. They lie. My wife's sister in law is a Muzzie, so I hear it on a regular basis. We always go round and round about it.
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