First Joyful Mystery ~ Annunciation
Meditation on the Sacred Mystery by Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year
During
Septuagesima week, we meditated upon the fall of our first parents, and the
triple sentence pronounced by God against the serpent, the woman, and Adam. Our
hearts were filled with fear as we reflected on the Divine malediction, the
effects of which are to be felt by all generations, even to the end of the
world. But in the midst of the anathemas then pronounced against us, a promise
was made us by our God; it was a promise of salvation, and it enkindled hope
within us. In pronouncing sentence against the serpent, God said that his head
should one day be crushed, and that, too, by a woman.
The time has come for the fulfillment of this
promise. The world has been in expectation for four thousand years; and the
hope of its deliverance has been kept up, in spite of all its crimes. During
this time, God has made use of miracles, prophecies, and types, as a renewal of
the engagement He has entered into with mankind. The Blood of the Messias has
passed from Adam to Noe; from Sem to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; from David and
Solomon to Joachim; and now it flows in the veins of Mary, Joachim's daughter.
Mary is the woman by whom is to be taken from our race the curse that lies upon
it. God has decreed that she should be Immaculate; and has thereby set an
irreconcilable enmity between her and the serpent. She, a daughter of Eve, is
to repair all the injury done by her mother's fall; she is to raise up her sex
from the degradation into which it has been cast; she is to co-operate,
directly and really, in the victory which the Son of God is about to gain over
His and our enemy.
A tradition, which has come down from the
Apostolic ages, tells us that the great mystery of the Incarnation was achieved
on the twenty-fifth day of March. [St. Augustine. De Trinitate, Lib. iv. cap.
v] It was at the hour of midnight, when the most holy Virgin was alone and
absorbed in prayer, that the Archangel Gabriel appeared before her, and asked
her, in the name of the blessed Trinity, to consent to become the Mother of
God. Let us assist, in spirit, at this wonderful interview between the Angel
and the Virgin: and, at the same time, let us think of that other interview
which took place between Eve and the serpent. A holy bishop and martyr of the
second century, Saint Irenæus, who had received the tradition from the very
disciples of the Apostles, shows us that Nazareth is the counterpart of Eden.
[Adv. hæreses. Lib. v. cap. xix]
In the garden of delights there is a virgin
and an Angel; and a conversation takes place between them. At Nazareth a Virgin
is also addressed by an Angel, and she answers him; but the Angel of the
earthly paradise is a spirit of darkness, and he of Nazareth is a spirit of
light. In both instances it is the Angel that has the first word. 'Why,' said
the Serpent to Eve, 'hath God commanded you, that you should not eat of every
tree of paradise?' His question implies impatience and a solicitation to evil;
he has contempt for the frail creature to whom he addresses it, but he hates
the image of God which is upon her.
See, on the other hand, the Angel of light; see
with what composure and peacefulness he approaches the Virgin of Nazareth, the
new Eve; and how respectfully he bows himself down before her: ' Hail, full of
grace! The Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women!' Such language is
evidently of Heaven: none but an Angel could speak thus to Mary.
Eve imprudently listens to the tempter's
words; she answers him; she enters into conversation with one that dares to ask
her to question the justice of God's commands. Her curiosity urges her on. She
has no mistrust in the Serpent; this leads her to mistrust her Creator.
Mary hears what Gabriel has spoken to her;
but this most prudent Virgin is silent. She is surprised at the praise given
her by the Angel. The purest and humblest of virgins has a dread of flattery;
and the Heavenly messenger receives no reply from her, until he has fully
explained his mission by these words: 'Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found
grace with God. Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth
a Son: and thou shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be
called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God shall give unto Him the
throne of David His father: and He shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever,
and of His kingdom there shall be no end.'
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