Saturday, December 20, 2008

December 20th: 'In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God....' (Luke 1:26)

This post is dedicated to my beloved Philomena and Joan, who although they are separated from me by physical distance, are my constant spiritual companions, walking on the other side of the Lord, as he guides us along our own 'road to Emmaus'.

Today's plant is the Angel-Wing Begonia.

"In the Old Testament angels are often unrecognised by the people they visit; they are only partially understood and sometimes cause fear. (In the New Testament, Zechariah)seems pole-axed, even before Gabriel speaks to him, and his doubting response is punished by dumbness until his son is named. Mary, on the other hand does not seem much frightened.....She is troubled by the terms of Gabriel's greeting, but only because she cannot at first comprehend how they can apply to her. She ponders them rationally in the silence. Gabriel reads her mind and explains. Her response is totally different from Zechariah's. His had the flavour of, 'What you say is not possible.' Mary's conveys, 'How will what you say be made possible?'

"........... and so whilst Gabriel tells Mary of Elizabeth's pregnancy, we and the whole world, as St. Bernard of Clairvaux so effectively puts it, wait for (her) decision in regard to her own...... Given her circumstances, Mary's 'fiat mihi' , despite its familiarity to us now, is eternally stunning. She was no passive instrument but accepted God as Master of the future and made the act of perfect compliance with his will to effect our freedom through the incarnation of his Son. She spoke the word and received the Word.

"But Jesus was Mary's son in the flesh as well. Maisie Ward, in her 'Splendour of the Rosary, mentions the medieval vision of Sister Eulalia, during which the Blessed Virgin, described as 'the Mother of all Nature', tells of the deep thrill of joy she feels when we linger on the words 'the Lord is with thee' in our repetitions of the angelic salutation. Then it seems to her that Jesus is within her even as he was durin his preparation to come into the world to save sinners. She knew unutterable bliss at the time, and remembers it whenever the 'Dominus tecum' is said with proper attention. The historicity of the vision may be doubtful, but it enshrines an insight that has (ever since) profoundly affected my own praying of the Hail Mary.....

"Each 20th December two favourite frescoes of the Annunciation come to mind......the first and the greater, is that of Fra Angelico: the second by an unknown nineteenth-century artist.....The first is more suitable for today, seeming to catch the moment before Mary's 'fiat'...... And so I close with a Hail Mary (in front of a reproduction of it given by my dear Philomena) and offer thanks for Mary's part in enabling us to pray the fourth great Advent Magnificat antiphon, 'O Clavis David':

'O Key of David that opens and no man closes, and shuts and no man opens, come to lead out the captive from the prison, and he who sits in darkness and the shadow of death.' "

copyright Jane Mossendew 2002

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