25TH MARCH 2003 ANNUNCIATION OF THE LORD
A BRIEF: The feast of the Annunciation goes back to the fourth or fifth century. Its central focus is the Incarnation: God has become one of us. From all eternity God had decided that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity should become human. Now, as Luke 1:2638 tells us, the decision is being realized. The God-Man embraces all humanity, indeed all creation, to bring it to God in one great act of love. Because human beings have rejected God, Jesus will accept a life of suffering and an agonizing death: No one has greater love than this, to lay down ones life for ones friends (John 15:13). Mary has an important role to play in Gods plan. From all eternity God destined her to be the mother of Jesus and closely related to him in the creation and redemption of the world. We could say that Gods decrees of creation and redemption are joined in the decree of Incarnation. As Mary is Gods instrument in the Incarnation, she has a role to play with Jesus in creation and redemption. It is a God-given role. It is Gods grace from beginning to end. Mary becomes the eminent figure she is only by Gods grace. She is the empty space where God could act. Everything she is she owes to the Trinity. She is the virgin-mother who fulfills Isaiah 7:14 in a way that Isaiah could not have imagined. She is united with her son in carrying out the will of God (Psalm 40:89; Hebrews 10:79; Luke 1:38). Together with Jesus, the privileged and graced Mary is the link between heaven and earth. She is the human being who best, after Jesus, exemplifies the possibilities of human existence. She received into her lowliness the infinite love of God. She shows how an ordinary human being can reflect God in the ordinary circumstances of life. She exemplifies what the Church and every member of the Church is meant to become. She is the ultimate product of the creative and redemptive power of God. She manifests what the Incarnation is meant to accomplish for all of us. COMMENT: Sometimes spiritual writers are accused of putting Mary on a pedestal and thereby discouraging ordinary humans from imitating her. Perhaps such an observation is misguided. God did put Mary on a pedestal and has put all human beings on a pedestal. We have scarcely begun to realize the magnificence of divine grace, the wonder of Gods freely given love. The marvel of Maryeven in the midst of her very ordinary lifeis Gods shout to us to wake up to the marvelous creatures that we all are by divine design. REFLECTION: Enriched from the first instant of her conception with the splendor of an entirely unique holiness, the virgin of Nazareth is hailed by the heralding angel, by divine command, as full of grace (cf. Luke 1:28). To the heavenly messenger she replies: Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word (Luke 1:38). Thus the daughter of Adam, Mary, consenting to the word of God, became the Mother of Jesus. Committing herself wholeheartedly and impeded by no sin to Gods saving will, she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son, under and with him, serving the mystery of redemption, by the grace of Almighty God (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, 56). ******2617: Mary's prayer is revealed to us at the dawning of the fullness of time. Before the incarnation of the Son of God, and before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, her prayer cooperates in a unique way with the Father's plan of loving kindness: at the Annunciation, for Christ's conception; at Pentecost, for the formation of the Church, his Body. In the faith of his humble handmaid, the Gift of God found the acceptance he had awaited from the beginning of time. She whom the Almighty made "full of grace" responds by offering her whole being: "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word." "Fiat": this is Christian prayer: to be wholly God's, because he is wholly ours.******(CATECHISM OF CATHOLIC CHURCH) **O Jesus ! Who for love of me, Didst bear Thy Cross to Calvary ; In Thy sweet mercy grant to me To suffer & die with Thee...** S.THOMAS NOTTINGHAM ENGLAND --------------------------------- With Yahoo! Mail you can get a bigger mailbox -- choose a size that fits your needs =============================================================================== This mail is generated from JOYnet, a Jesus Youth mailing list. For more info on the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet To unsubscribe from the list send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe to the list visit http://www.jesusyouth.org/joynet/join In case of any issue related to the mailing list contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] ===============================================================================