The Annunciation and The Visitation
Excerpt from the book Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume I
The two great events of the beginning of St. Luke’s Gospel and the first two Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary are offered for our meditation today. The Annunciation where the Angel Gabriel comes to ask Mary’s fiat to be the mother of the Redeemer and the Word is made Flesh in her womb. In the second meditation our Mother, inspired by the Holy Ghost goes to her cousin Elizabeth so that Jesus within her womb can consecrate John the Baptist before his birth. What miraculous and wonderful events that show us the wonder of God’s salvific plan.
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
From the book Meditations on Christian Dogma, Volume I by Right Reverend James Bellord, D. D. (Convent of Mercy, 1906, pages 342-345).
The Annunciation
I. “The angel Gabriel was sent from God ... to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph . . . and the name of the Virgin was Mary” (Luke 2:26-27). Five hundred years before, the same archangel had foretold this event to the prophet Daniel, and that holy man fell prostrate before him. A few weeks before, he had appeared to Zachary in the temple, and struck him deaf and dumb in punishment of his incredulity. Now, for the first time, an angel of God bows before one of the fallen race, and speaks to her as the servant of a king might salute a powerful princess.
The angel's message was to ask the consent and cooperation of the lowly Virgin in the great mystery of divine power and mercy. In her case, as in all others, God took account of human liberty, and made the divine operations dependent on her free consent. She had full power of choice; she deliberated, and at length acceded to that which God proposed to her. No scene so momentous had occurred since Eve consented to the tempter in Eden. And, until Our Lord first spoke, no word so meritorious, so full of promise of joy to men was pronounced by any human being: “Be it done to me according to Thy word” (Luke 1:38).
God asks your consent to some designs of His grace. He wishes to do much in you. Strive to be faithful, obedient, generous in your consent, as was the Holy Virgin.
II. Consider the details of that sublime scene. The messenger of God approaches Mary in the Eden of her sinlessness and union with God. He proposes to her the greatest honor ever conferred on a child of Adam, to be the Mother of the divine Messiah. It was a higher dignity than that which the tempter proposed to Eve, “You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). Mary, with the true intuition of faith, believes the word of God, but she asks assurance as to the mode of its accomplishment. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, she had renounced the lower and natural order of life, and had adopted a preternatural idea as her rule. She, first of all the children of Eve, originated the state of perpetual virginity, a germ which, in the kingdom of her Son, was to bear such beautiful fruit, which was to be one of the most fertile, beneficial, divine details of the Church.
The Incarnation of the Son of God had to wait for its accomplishment until a virgin should fit herself to be its instrument, by renouncing the natural order, which seemed necessary for that mystery, and embracing the supernatural order in the spirit of sacrifice and faith. She was ready to forego the glory that every Jewish maiden aspired to, rather than be unfaithful to the divine inspiration which had dictated her vow. She chose the tree of supernatural life, and therefore she merited its fruit, the motherhood of Jesus Christ.
The ways of the world often seem more profitable than the ways of God. Have faith, and make the sacrifice, and God will turn all things to your advantage. Natural methods, if discordant with God's will, must end in failure.
III. The Angel assured Mary of God's power to do what is naturally impossible; and at once she gives herself up to do His will: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38). How different she is from Eve in her undoubting faith, her prompt obedience, her preference for the higher course, the absence of self-consciousness, the depreciation of herself in spite of her great dignity. Therefore the Holy Ghost speaks words of benediction to her by the angel and St. Elizabeth, and reverses the malediction pronounced on Eve.
The tree of life was now substituted for the tree of knowledge, the supernatural was introduced into the current of the natural life, the angel with the flaming sword was withdrawn from the entrance of the Eden of grace. Eve had led up to the fall; the second Eve now opened the way to Redemption, and accomplished the prophecy of crushing the serpent's head.
Always hold to the supernatural. As reason transcends mere physical power, so does the supernatural surpass the efficiency of the natural.
The Visitation
I. The Gospel gives us the history of the Visitation as an important episode in the development of the divine action. Heaven, in the person of the archangel, had paid homage to Our Lady; now, the earth, in the person of St. Elizabeth, recognizes her as “the Mother of my Lord” and God. The venerable and holy woman, wife of the priest of God, humbles herself before her girl-relative, the spouse of the working- man.
It is more than a queen who has condescended to come to her: “Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should visit me?” (Luke 1:43). Again the benediction of the angel is renewed: “Blessed art thou amongst women,” and again, as in Genesis and the Apocalypse, the woman is associated inseparably with the Child: “and blessed is the fruit of thy womb” (Luke 7:42). It was from the revelation of the Holy Ghost that St. Elizabeth understood the mystery; under His inspiration she spoke the words of God. These words form the salutation which all those who recognize the Divinity of Jesus have addressed to His Mother ever since.
Make frequent use of the words which the Holy Spirit Himself puts into your mouth. Imitate the inspired woman in the veneration which she, in the name of all generations to come, offered to the Mother of God. It is one of the most efficient ways of honoring Our Lord's Incarnation.
II. The Visitation is not merely an act of charity on the part of the Blessed Virgin towards her aged kinswoman, but it is an exhibition of redeeming power shown by Our Lord while as yet unborn. No sooner had He assumed human nature than He moved His Blessed Mother to convey Him with all haste into the mountains of Judea, that He might, without delay, inaugurate His work in souls by sanctifying His Precursor, John the Baptist. That infant, also unborn, recognized the presence of his Savior; he was delivered from original sin, and his mother was filled with the Holy Ghost. “Behold, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped with joy” (Luke 1:44).
Of St. John, as well as of Abraham, Our Lord could say: “He rejoiced that he might see My day: he saw it and was glad” (John 8:56). It is significant that the first sanctifying action of the Redeemer was wrought by means of the Blessed Virgin. Her charity and humility, under divine inspiration, moved her to visit St. Elizabeth; and this afforded Our Lord the opportunity of redeeming a soul from sin.
The events of the Gospels are official actions, and not merely personal and private. The Visitation shows us the permanent function of the Blessed Virgin in the economy of Redemption. She is the instrument of Jesus and a channel of grace. Do not forget this office of hers. Ask her to intercede for you, to bring Jesus to your heart, and to help you to recognize Him and rejoice in your new spiritual birth.
III. The Visitation was indicated prophetically of old, when the Ark of God was brought from Gabaa of Benjamin to the house of Obededom. It abode there for “three months, and the Lord blessed Obededom and all his house hold” (2 Kings 6:11). So the Blessed Virgin remained three months in the house of Zachary. She was the true Ark of the Covenant, containing the Word of God, not graven on stones, but enshrined in the flesh of His Sacred Humanity.
What treasures of blessing, light and grace, this visit must have brought to Zachary and Elizabeth; what continual increase of sanctification to the Precursor, preparing him for his life of austerity and his preaching of the Redeemer! The presence of Mary was the communication of Jesus; He was manifested in her action and virtues.
So will it be with you. Belief in Jesus Christ involves devotion and love towards His Blessed Mother. Fervent recognition of her greatness is homage to Our Lord, and will bring you nearer to Him. Let Jesus and His Mother dwell in your heart, and they will fill it with benediction.