Tag: Annunciation
The Holy Spirit’s role in the Incarnation
1. Jesus is linked with the Holy Spirit from the first moment of his existence in time, as the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed recalls: “Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine”. The Church’s faith in this mystery is based on the word of God: “The Holy Spirit”, the Angel Gabriel announces to Mary, “will come upon you and the… Read More ›
The Very Great Dignity That Matter Has Acquired Through the Incarnation
It is clearly a prohibition against representing the invisible God. But when you see Him who has no body become man for you, then you will make representations of His human aspect. When the Invisible, having clothed Himself in the flesh, become visible, then represent the likeness of Him who has appeared. When He who,… Read More ›
The Annunciation: It Is What We Are That Matters
(Editor’s note: Though written over 60 years ago it is amazing how the issues the authors address below are still pertinent today.) Nazareth was an obscure and despised village; its people were regarded as inferiors. Yet such holiness was found in that small community that it became the place of the incarnation of the Son… Read More ›
The Incarnation and Icons
It is clearly a prohibition against representing the invisible God. But when you see Him who has no body become man for you, then you will make representations of His human aspect. When the Invisible, having clothed Himself in the flesh, become visible, then represent the likeness of Him who has appeared. When He who,… Read More ›
The Annunciation:The Freedom of Religion
. . . She was planned for a role in the drama of redemption by God, as a child is planned for a musical career by his physical parents, but it was not fulfilled until this moment. The Holy Trinity never possesses a creature without the consent of His will. When, therefore, Mary had heard how… Read More ›
The Annunciation
8. Mary is definitively introduced into the mystery of Christ through this event: the Annunciation by the angel. This takes place at Nazareth, within the concrete circumstances of the history of Israel, the people which first received God’s promises. The divine messenger says to the Virgin: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you”… Read More ›
Mary lived martyrdom of the soul
The Annunciation, recounted at the beginning of St Luke’s Gospel, is a humble, hidden event – no one saw it, no one except Mary knew of it -, but at the same time it was crucial to the history of humanity. When the Virgin said her “yes” to the Angel’s announcement, Jesus was conceived and… Read More ›
The Visitation of Mary: Blessed is she who believed
12. Immediately after the narration of the Annunciation, the Evangelist Luke guides us in the footsteps of the Virgin of Nazareth towards “a city of Judah” (Lk. 1:39). According to scholars this city would be the modern Ain Karim, situated in the mountains, not far from Jerusalem. Mary arrived there “in haste,” to visit Elizabeth… Read More ›
The “Pilgrimage of Faith’
7. I wrote in Novo Millennio Ineunte: “One can never really reach Jesus except by the path of faith” (n. 19). This was the path that Mary followed throughout her earthly life and it is the path of the pilgrim Church until the end of time. The Second Vatican Council placed great emphasis on Mary’s… Read More ›
It is what we do that matters
Nazareth was an obscure and despised village; its people were regarded as inferiors. Yet such holiness was found in that small community that it became the place the Incarnation of the Son of God. Obviously, then, it not so much where we live or what we do, but rather what we are that matters; especially… Read More ›