Michele Kearney's Snuffysmith's Blog: Daughters of St. Paul Strength for the Week 4/2

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Daughters of St. Paul Strength for the Week 4/2

Strength for the Week

When the "Word was made Flesh" through Mary's yes

Hello MICHELE KEARNEY,

This year, Good Friday fell on March 25 and so the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord was shifted to the first available date after the Easter Octave: Monday, April 4. In honor of yesterday’s observance, we offer four visual meditations on that pivotal moment in human history when “the Word was made Flesh” through Mary’s yes.

“How often must Mary have returned inwardly to the hour when God’s angel had spoken to her, pondering afresh the greeting: ‘Rejoice, full of grace!’ and the consoling words: ‘Do not be afraid!’ The angel departs; her mission remains, and with it matures her inner closeness to God, a closeness that in her heart she is able to see and touch.” – Pope Benedict XVI

Fourteenth Century Icon from the church of St Clement in Ohrid (Skopje, Macedonia). In this classic image, Gabriel’s feet are spread apart, as if he has been running full stride to deliver his message; the staff represents that he is, in fact, a messenger. Mary is seated on an elevated platform, because she is “higher than the cherubim”; in her left hand she holds the spindle of scarlet thread with which she was imagined to be weaving the veil for the Temple of Jerusalem. The three stars (at her forehead and on each shoulder) represent her perpetual virginity.

“When the angel appeared to Mary, God was announcing this love for the new humanity.”

– Venerable Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Italian master Gentile da Fabriano gave us this lovely representation (circa 1425) of the Angel’s visit. Notice the Heavenly Father, surrounded by flaming seraphim, in the extreme upper left corner of the image. The Incarnation is a Trinitarian event: through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the Eternal Son of the Father is conceived in Mary’s womb.

In 1610, Peter Paul Rubens created this dynamic image. Mary appears to have been startled by the Angel’s dramatic entrance; she leans back, perhaps wondering “what manner of greeting this ‘Hail, full of grace’ might be” (see Luke 1:29). Her left hand rests gently on the open book while her right hand, palm facing out, seems to speak for her: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me…"

“Mary showed complete trust in God by agreeing to be used as an instrument in his plan of salvation. She trusted him in spite of her nothingness because she knew he who is mighty could do great things in her and through her. Once she said 'yes' to him, she never doubted. She was just a young woman, but she belonged to God and nothing nor anyone could separate her from him.” – Blessed Teresa of Calcutta

African-American artist Henry Ossawa Tanner created this stunning Annunciation (found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art) in 1898, after studying art in Paris and in the Holy Land. Here, Gabriel’s form is reduced to a bright flame, evoking the burning bush in the desert though which God revealed not only his surpassing transcendence, but his merciful nearness to his people—a nearness that became oneness through the Incarnation.