The Annunciation of Our Lord

 25 March 2023

Is 7:10-14, 8:10

Ps 40

Hb 10:4-10

Lk 1:25-38

 

Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ,
Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto

"The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit." 

 

With rare exceptions spaced many decades apart, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord always falls during Lent.  This solemnity, this feast, is a welcome glimmer of hope during a season of penance and fasting.  

We hear the prophecy in the first reading.  We hear the fulfillment of that prophecy in Luke's Gospel.  We hear Ahaz's stubborn 'no' in the first reading.  We hear Mary's perfect 'yes' in the Gospel.

 

Isaiah narrates God's command to Ahaz that he ask for a sign.  Ahaz refused to ask.  In His frustration  God told Ahaz the sign He would give.  The Universe held its breath when the angel appeared in the house in Nazareth, a backwater town of no importance.  The angel was to carry news to a young woman living in the house.  How would she reply? Is this the time or must the waiting continue?

 

The angel's appearance in the room startled the young woman. The tension in the universe approached unbearable.  God had promised a sign, that the virgin shall bear a son.  Is this the time? Is this the woman?

 

The universe was still.  Nothing stirred.  All movement halted when it heard the angel's greeting, "Hail, full of grace!  The Lord is with you."

 

Clasping its hands in front of its heart, the universe waited for the scene to unfold. "Do not be afraid Mary, For you have found favor with God. You will conceive and bear a son and you shall name him Jesus."  The woman appeared puzzled and concerned, as if she were asking herself what the odd greeting meant.

 

The universe was stilled. Oddly, the anxious anticipation vanished

replaced by a new calm.  The look on her face was changing.  Wait . . . . 

 

"Ecce ancilla Domini, 

fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum."

 

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, 

May it be done unto me according to your word."  

The universe changed instantly. It would never be the same.  A new calm descended.  The prophecy would be fulfilled.  The young woman's words

penetrated the very substance of the universe where they would echo forever.

The most important yes in history had just been spoken.  And the universe rejoiced.  The virgin had accepted her vocation to be the Theotokos, the God-bearer, in fulfillment of the prophecy to Ahaz.

 

Like us, Mary was endowed with free will.  She could have rejected the 

vocation the angel presented to her. It seems irreverent to suggest that Mary could have refused. Her decision, however, was not inevitable.  It was not forced by God.  She was chosen.  But she had her own choice and  she responded with yes.

 

Et Verbum caro factum est.

Et havitavit in nobis

 

"And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us."  

 

Angels rejoiced. Seraphim, Thrones, Powers, and Dominations celebrated. 

Mary's life would change.  Joseph would soon receive her into his house. 

They would soon make the arduous journey to Bethlehem where Jesus would be born of the House of David, once again in fulfillment of a prophecy.

 

On this great feast the Eastern Church will sing a hymn to the Theotokos,

a hymn to the God-bearer whose reply to the angel enabled the universe to rejoice: 

 

"Receive, O earth, 

the glad tidings of great joy.

Heavens, praise the glory of God. 

The Theotokos, the God-bearer, the living tabernacle of God

shall not be touched by an unclean hand. 

 

The lips of believers 

shall sing to her ceaselessly 

with the voice of angels crying joyfully, 

 

Hail full of grace, 

The Lord is with Thee." 

______________________________________________

The Feast of the Annunciation is a particularly important one and a particular favorite for more reasons than I can name. The picture is not one that I took. It is a painting of The Annunciation by Henry Osawa Tanner, an African American painter from Philadelphia whose father was a bishop in the African Methodist Episcopal Church that was founded by Richard Allen. It is the most perfect depiction I've ever seen. Tanner lived most of his life in France.

Rejoice O Jerusalem: Homily for the 4th Sunday of Lent_Laetare

1 Sm 16;1B, 6-7, 10-13A

Eph 5:8-14

Jn 9:1-41

 

"Laetare Jerusalem: et conventum facite omnes 

qui diligitis eam:

gaudete cum laetitia, 

qui in tristitia fuistis . . ."

 

"Rejoice oh Jerusalem and all who love her.

Be joyful, all who were in mourning . . ." 

 

The designation of the fourth Sunday of Lent as Laetare Sunday derives from the first word of the entrance antiphon: Laetare.  Rejoice.

 

In one of the many essays he composed during his 40 years teaching at 

Georgetown, the late Jesuit Father Jim Schall wrote: "Laetare Sunday is traditionally called a respite.  It makes us begin to feel the nearness of the Passion and the Resurrection, but with a reminder that even amid the Lenten fast 

and the coming remembrance of the Crucifixion, we are not to forget that Christianity is a religion of joy."   

 

We are not to forget that Christianity is a religion of joy

 

Father continues, "Christianity is called the most worldly of the religions because it is a religion engaged with the world and in the world, but it is not of the world.  

Christianity transcends the world, it goes beyond the world it goes beyond the universe. It will not cease when the world ends or when the universe involutes on itself."

 

We will be reminded on the Feast of the Annunciation this coming Saturday

that because of Mary’s fiat “May it be done to me according your word” Christianity will persist beyond the end of the world and the end of the universe, just as Mary’s words will echo eternally through the universe and whatever is left when it ends..  

 

Schall then makes a further observation, "Christianity is also the happiest religion 

since it knows this world is not all there is.  There is something precious beyond the world.  The world is not a bad place.  It gives us enough room to relax in, if we don't expect of the world more than it can give, or if we don't see the world for what it is not."

 

Seeing the world for what it is and what it is not, is Paul’s warning to the Ephesians. “Take no part in the fruitless works of darkness, rather, expose them. . . Live as children of the light, for light produces every kind of goodness,

and righteousness, and truth.” . . . 

 

Expose them.

 

The task of the Church is to expose the works of darkness for what they are, the works of darkness in the abortion clinic, the works of darkness in state legislatures passing bills to allow killing the sick elderly before their time, and the and the works of darkness, the pure evil, of those who encourage and assist in the psychological, surgical and hormonal abuse of barely pubertal children who lack full decision-making capacity. 

 

“Awake, O sleeper, 

and arise from the dead, 

and Christ will give you light.”

 

Christ gives us the same light that he gave the man born blind.  

 

Laetare Sunday reminds us that we are approaching the magnificent liturgies 

of the Sacred Triduum. The Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday begins with the blessing of the fire from which the paschal candle is lit.  As he incises the candle before lighting it, the priest says the words that explain our faith in one sentence: 

 

"Christ yesterday and today 

the beginning and the end. 

Alpha and Omega; 

all time belongs to him, 

and all the ages; 

to him be glory and power, 

through every age for ever." 

 

Soon our mourning will be replaced by dancing.  It will not be the short respite of Laetare Sunday but the unfettered joy of Easter, a joy we will carry forth for weeks despite the realities of life impinging on us. The joy of Christianity as described by Father Schall.  The darkness of death will be overwhelmed by the light of eternal life.  Like the man born blind in today's Gospel, we will see with unclouded vision.  Unlike the man born blind, we will not be confused 

about who gave us our sight. 

 

"Laetare Jerusalem: et conventum facite omnes 

qui diligitis eam:

gaudete cum laetitia . . . " 

 

Rejoice Jerusalem  . . . .

__________________________________

Got snowed in in Vermont last week.  Thus, no homily.  However, some fresh winter photos.  I prefer to convert snow photos into black and white and work with the contrast.  

Fr. Jack, SJ, MD