Posted on 03/25/2015 10:46:15 PM PDT by Steelfish
Because Mary Said “Yes…” — A Reflection For The Solemnity of the Annunciation of Our Lord
March 25, 2011 by Fr. Thomas Rosica
Standing in the middle of the present day city of Nazareth is the mammoth Basilica of the Annunciation, built around what is believed to be the dwelling of Mary. In a grotto-like room at the heart of the basilica is a small inscription on an altar. It reads, “verbum caro hic factum est,” here the Word became flesh. There, it is believed, the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, and her response changed the world forever.
Imagine yourself in Mary’s place, asked to say “yes” to a divine plan so vast, so profound and so seemingly impossible that you cannot comprehend it. “How can this be?” she asks, bewildered. She is rooted in the faith of her ancestors, and yet now an angel has appeared in the midst of everyday life, extending a startling invitation. “You have found favor with God,” the angel says, “and you will conceive and bear His Son.” Will she accept?
It is Mary above all others who can teach us what it means to live by faith, and how to respond when God’s providence disrupts the daily course of our lives, overturning its rhythms and expectations. Despite her fears and uncertainty over how this promise could be fulfilled, she still answered “Yes.” Are we able to respond to God this way?
When we reflect on the Annunciation to Mary, and her acceptance of the angel’s message, we also reflect on our own vocation — our own calling from God. In the Lord’s Prayer, we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” — an echo of Mary’s “Be it done unto me according to your word.”
Each time we commit ourselves to embracing God’s call and accepting His will, we mark a new point on the path of our relationship with Him. For the rest of her life, Mary pondered her extraordinary encounter with God, turning the weight of the angel’s message over and over again in her heart. From the manger to the cross, Mary’s life was radically changed — her relationship with God profoundly deepened — the moment she said “Yes.”
Mary received and welcomed God’s Word in the fullest sense — becoming impregnated with it, and bearing it to the world. Angels might not appear in our doorsteps, but we do encounter God in each of our daily prayers, and he whispers to us a similar invitation: Will we accept His love and bring it joyously to those around us? Will we trust in His providence, even when we can’t see the path ahead? Amid the noise of everyday life, will we listen for and embrace his call?
When making his pilgrimage to the Basilica of the Annunciation, Pope Benedict XVI offered this prayer to the humble Virgin of Nazareth. It speaks for all of us who likewise seek to accept God’s will with joy:
Mary, Mother of the “Yes,” you listened to Jesus, and know the tone of his voice and the beating of his heart. Morning Star, speak to us of him, and tell us about your journey of following him on the path of faith."
Really. Then I'm sure you'll have no trouble answering this question: why do Catholics and Mohammedans worship the same god? Roman Catholicism teaches it:
"841 The Church's relationship with the Muslims. "The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."330"
I know I don't worship the false god of Islam; I worship the God --the one, true, living God-- of the Bible.
But based on the "non-falsehood" taught by the Roman Catholic Cult, I now understand why the Catholic "Church" is apostate.According to this non-falsehood, The Catholic Church worships a false god.
Hoss
“Really. Then I’m sure you’ll have no trouble answering this question: why do Catholics and Mohammedans worship the same god? Roman Catholicism teaches it:”
Do you worship the God of Abraham?
Well stated. Thanks.
Is God eternal, or not? If so, he always was and existed before Mary. In fact, he created her in her mother's womb. And she was born a sinner as we all are.
If Mary is the mother of God, then God is not eternal.
She IS the mother of Jesus.
Hoss
Do you worship Allah? Your catechism says you do.
So.. Do you?
Hoss
Do you ever bother to read the refutations supplied to you on all those points you seem to be so stuck on? If you won't read them, then you have nobody but yourself to blame for the wrongheaded and false delusions you promote.
When you stand before the judgment seat, don't look around for all those esteemed, eminent theologians you follow to stand there with you. They will be dealing with God on their own, too. The test WON'T be what church you attended.
I do...Mohammedans (and according to Catholic teaching, Catholics) don't. Mohammedans worship Allah. I don't worship Allah. But the Church's catechism says Catholics and Muslims worship the same god. The problem is it teaches a falsehood: it equates The one true living God with Allah.
I thought you said Roman Catholicism did not teach falsehoods?
Hoss
That’s a “fact”, Jack!
:D
Hoss
It’s truly HIS opinion...nothing more.
When you start out repeating a lie, nothing beyond that is relevant either...
Excellent point...But I don't think you're going to get many bites on that one...
I haven’t yet in all the times I’ve ask it. I guess when someone does it will probably be, “It’s a mystery.”. ;o)
**Actually, that’s not true. Moses was not a sock-puppet, an android robot or a ventriloquist’s dummy. He could have said “Forget it.”**
That would have worked out really bad, I think:
Ex. 4:14 “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses,...”.
That was after Moses had tried at least three times to wiggle out of God’s call on his life. And after that, he was so slack in his calling, that he hadn’t seen to it that his son was circumcised, and “the Lord met him and sought to kill him”. Ex. 4:24
Mary certainly had an example of how NOT to respond to the call of the Lord.
If you can be intellectualized out of your faith, you never had it to begin with.
THIS!!!!!!!
On the night Gabriel visited Mary, as the biblical story goes, he asked her to bear a child who would be called Emmanuel, a name that means: ‘God is with us. She answered, ‘Adsum’ which is the Latin expression for, ‘I am here.’ Not a word easily translated into the English language, ‘Adsum’ means being in a state of mind where the person is completely available and willing to serve God.
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