Happy Feast of the Annunciation! Today we celebrate that most Glorious Solemnity of the Annunciation, when God sends a messenger to a lowly virgin to "Announce" His plan of Salvation.
This Plan of Salvation is for God Himself, the very Son of God, who is to take on Flesh, to be born of a virgin, in order to undo the fall of Eve and of Adam, to give us a new Eve, and a new Adam to be Conceived in the immaculate womb of that new Eve, a humble young handmaid. Saint Luke tells us in his Gospel..
LUKE 1:26~28 "And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art though among women."
And so begins the incarnation in this way, in humility, in purity and in innocence. The great Angel, who is God's messenger, greats Mary humbly, speaks to her the very words of the Lord God, who sent Gabriel to proclaim the greeting and in so doing, revealing the Lord's plan of Salvation to this holy virgin Mary, who the angel says is "full of Grace" and tells her "The Lord is With You". It is this very angelic Salutation that we repeat, each time we pray the words given to Gabriel to speak unto Mary.
This prayer, comprised of the angel's greeting, is also comprised of of the inspired words of Elizabeth, who when visited by Mary is filled with the Holy Spirit at the sound of her voice and the Holy Spirit prompts Elizabeth to exclaim in a Loud voice in LUKE 1:42~45..."Blessed art though among women, and blessed in the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? for behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed are though that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.
These very words we pray, are not our own words; nor are they words contrived by the Church, but these Sacred words are God's Himself, given to an angel and spoken by Gabriel and by the prompting of the Holy Spirit of God in the woman Elizabeth, it is she who is to bear the Herald of the Messiah, John the Baptist. It is the pregnant Elizabeth, who announces Mary as "Blessed Among all Women", "Full of Grace", and the Mother of the Lord". Blessed is Mary for believing what God would do in her and through her. I dare say, blessed too are those who also believe what God has wrought through Mary and who also call her blessed!
Henceforth, let us, in all generations call her blessed... and let us add,.... "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." Amen.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Thank You Joseph!
As a man I'm often talking about the things that are dear to my manly heart, none more dear to me than my mother, the first woman I've ever loved and who taught me what love is. I'm also drawn to speak about the great love of my life, my wife Deb and I would be remiss not to speak of someone to whom all men should look upon as a great model of what it means to be a man, and that is St. Joseph, the husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Since we have just celebrated the Feast of St. Joseph, it is appropriate for me to mention him here.
We are told in Sacred Scripture that Joseph was a righteous man. There are no recorded words of Joseph in Scripture but we know that he must have loved God very much., after all, God chose him among all men to be the foster father of His Only Son, and to be the husband of Mary. No doubt Joseph also was a man of virtue, a descendant of King David, and he was betrothed to Mary. As the husband of Mary, Joseph gave to her son Jesus the lineage of His Birthright as the Descendant of the line of David. Joseph was chosen also to be the protector of the Child and His mother and surely Joseph loved God above all things and did God's will without hesitation. Joseph was the model man, the model husband and the model worker. He was the closest man on earth to Jesus, and loved Mary above all creatures and was loved by her and Jesus perhaps more than any other man who has ever lived. Living too so close to the source of all Grace, Joseph was purified and strengthened by that Grace and as those devoted to Christ, strengthened in all the virtues. So too can we become like Joseph if we but draw closer to Christ and His Blessed Mother.
I too in a very special way look to Joseph, for in a similarity that I am blessed to share with this humble saint, in my vocation of marriage, a calling to be not merely a husband, but also to be a father and specifically a step dad or as I would like to think more appropriately, a foster father since Joseph was a foster father to Jesus. I have been blessed and honored to love protect and help my wife Debra raise not one son, but two sons, and like Joseph, I looked on her two boys and love them as my own.
This past weekend we celebrated the Solemnity of Saint Joseph on Sat March 19th. After having prayed the Novena to St. Joseph, I have promised to make a more determined effort to call upon him more in my prayer and spiritual life and to model him in my own life. I do this for I see the need to be more like the righteous man that sought God's Will in all things and to strive to be like the man named Joseph who loved God above all, and loved and cherished Mary the mother of Jesus after that. Good St. Joseph, protect and defend all families and safeguard and help sanctify True and Genuine Marriage which is under attack today! It was God after all, Who chose the model of the family in which to raise His only Son Jesus. In this we have the perfect model of family, the Holy Family. In this family God chose a pure humble woman, a good and righteous man in which to raise a child, His only Son. It is by virtue of the Holy Family, we see the exemplar structure of how all families are to be.
Jesus Mary and Joseph, Sanctify the Family in which you have shown us that it was in the family, where the Domestic Church first took root!
We are told in Sacred Scripture that Joseph was a righteous man. There are no recorded words of Joseph in Scripture but we know that he must have loved God very much., after all, God chose him among all men to be the foster father of His Only Son, and to be the husband of Mary. No doubt Joseph also was a man of virtue, a descendant of King David, and he was betrothed to Mary. As the husband of Mary, Joseph gave to her son Jesus the lineage of His Birthright as the Descendant of the line of David. Joseph was chosen also to be the protector of the Child and His mother and surely Joseph loved God above all things and did God's will without hesitation. Joseph was the model man, the model husband and the model worker. He was the closest man on earth to Jesus, and loved Mary above all creatures and was loved by her and Jesus perhaps more than any other man who has ever lived. Living too so close to the source of all Grace, Joseph was purified and strengthened by that Grace and as those devoted to Christ, strengthened in all the virtues. So too can we become like Joseph if we but draw closer to Christ and His Blessed Mother.
I too in a very special way look to Joseph, for in a similarity that I am blessed to share with this humble saint, in my vocation of marriage, a calling to be not merely a husband, but also to be a father and specifically a step dad or as I would like to think more appropriately, a foster father since Joseph was a foster father to Jesus. I have been blessed and honored to love protect and help my wife Debra raise not one son, but two sons, and like Joseph, I looked on her two boys and love them as my own.
This past weekend we celebrated the Solemnity of Saint Joseph on Sat March 19th. After having prayed the Novena to St. Joseph, I have promised to make a more determined effort to call upon him more in my prayer and spiritual life and to model him in my own life. I do this for I see the need to be more like the righteous man that sought God's Will in all things and to strive to be like the man named Joseph who loved God above all, and loved and cherished Mary the mother of Jesus after that. Good St. Joseph, protect and defend all families and safeguard and help sanctify True and Genuine Marriage which is under attack today! It was God after all, Who chose the model of the family in which to raise His only Son Jesus. In this we have the perfect model of family, the Holy Family. In this family God chose a pure humble woman, a good and righteous man in which to raise a child, His only Son. It is by virtue of the Holy Family, we see the exemplar structure of how all families are to be.
Jesus Mary and Joseph, Sanctify the Family in which you have shown us that it was in the family, where the Domestic Church first took root!
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