Meister des Marienlebens Annunciation

Sometimes words such as ‘gift’ and ‘giving’ – like the word ‘love’ – seem over-used, employed too often and too superficially, thus inclined to have their true meaning and intent eroded. But to call the Incarnation a ‘gift from God’ is not only appropriate, it is almost understatement. Consider this observation by John Paul II:

“The conception and birth of Jesus Christ are in fact the greatest work accomplished by the Holy Spirit in the history of creation and salvation: the supreme grace – “the grace of union,” source of every other grace, as St. Thomas explains.” (# 50 The Holy Spirit in the Life of the Church and the World)

Here is a very rough paraphrase: The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is the supreme gift – given by God to humanity.

John Paul goes on to say of the Incarnation that it is the “source of every other grace” – and every other Divine gift. Later in the same document, John Paul elaborates on this concept further:

“Creation is thus completed by the Incarnation and since that moment is permeated by the powers of the Redemption, powers which fill humanity and all creation.” #52 

 As we approach Thanksgiving Day, we know that it is a day to thank God for His plenteous and overflowing gifts. What better place to begin our thanksgiving recollection than in Nazareth?

In the time of Christ there was a rather dismissive popular expression: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (Jn 1:46)

“Yes” we might respond, “All Good – ‘the supreme grace’ of God, the true ‘powers of the Redemption’ filling humanity to overflowing, ‘grace upon grace’, and enduring hope!”

Meister des Marienlebens Annunciation (Detail with Unborn Jesus)

(The following column by Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez appeared in the Friday, Oct. 7, issue of the archdiocesan newspaper The Tidings)

Blessed John Paul II said that as Christians we are called to be people of life and for life.

Our religion, in a beautiful and mysterious way, is deeply identified with human life. What other world religion remembers the time when its founder was in his mother’s womb?

Yet in our sacred Scriptures, we preserve the story of Jesus’ conception, his birth, and even some events from his early childhood. We retell these stories in our worship, year after year — at Christmas time, in feasts like the Annunciation. We remember the name of Jesus’ mother in our confession of faith, when we say Jesus was “born of the Virgin Mary.”

Biblical religion is a religion in which family and children, and the promise of children, plays a big role.

Think of the stories of Abraham and Sarah and God’s promise to give them a son. Think of God’s words to the prophet Jeremiah: “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.”

Again and again in the salvation history we read in the Bible, God’s plan is enacted through a woman who is with child. “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son …”

God loved us so much that he entered into this world as each one of us did — through the womb of a mother.

Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to love the Gospel story of the Visitation. She always pointed to this detail — how St. John the Baptist leapt in St. Elizabeth’s womb when Mary walked into the room.

She said: “Something very beautiful, something very wonderful happened. The first human being to recognize the presence of Jesus was the little one in the womb of his mother — who leaped with joy. It is so beautiful to think that God gave that little unborn child the greatness of proclaiming the presence of Jesus on earth.”

Click here to read the rest of his statement.

“Virgin’s First Communion” Pianist Jacqueline Chew

Olivier Messiaen (December 10, 1908 – April 27, 1992) was a devout and well-respected French Catholic composer.  Olivier Messiaen wrote  Vingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus ,  a collection of pieces for solo piano in 1944. The French title translates “Twenty gazes/contemplations on the infant Jesus”. It is considered to be one of the greatest piano works of the twentieth century, and the summit of Messiaen’s keyboard writing. The idea of les regards, the spiritual gazes, came from the devotional book Le Christ dans ses Mystères by the Irish-Belgian Benedictine Abbot Dom Columba Marmion.

The gaze is a profound moment of passionate contemplation, spiritual communication and two-way recognition: an exchange, to use one of Marmion’s favorite words, in which love and knowledge passed in both directions between God and humanity.

Some of Messiaen’s ‘gazes’ on the Infant Jesus include: Gaze of the Father, Gaze of the Star, The Exchange, Gaze of the Son upon the Son, By Him everything was made, The Kiss of the Infant Jesus, Glance of Silence (click here to see all of the pieces)…the piece that touches on our blog’s theme is: ‘Premiere Communion de la Vierge’. (No. 11, “Virgin’s First Communion”) and represents the Virgin on her knees, worshiping the unborn Jesus within her.

Olivier Messiaen wrote notes for each of the glances/regards. Here is what he wrote about the Premiere communion de la Vierge:

“Première communion de la Vierge [First Communion of the Virgin]. A tableau in which the Virgin is shown kneeling, bowed down in the night-a luminous halo around her womb. Eyes closed, she adores the fruit hidden within her. This comes between the Annunciation and the Nativity: it is the first and greatest of all communions. Theme of God, gentle scrolls, in stalactites, in an inner embrace. (Recall of the theme of La Vierge l’Enfant from my Nativity du Seigneur for organ, 1935). Magnificat more enthusiastic. Special chords and durations of two and two in which the weighty pulsations represent the heartbeats of the Infant in the breast of his mother. Disappearance of the Theme of God. After the Annunciation, Mary adores Jesus within her…my God, my son, my Magnificat!-my love without the sound of words.”

Here are two links:

Program Notes for Twenty Glances on the Infant JesusVingt Regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

The Elusive Allure of  Olivier Messiaen

Our Lady of Light and Life

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  Jn 1:4-5

“And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them…”  Lk 2:8-9

“…and lo, the star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was.”  Mt 2:9

“And as he was praying, the appearance of his countenance was altered, and his raiment became dazzling white…and they saw his glory…”  Lk 9:29,32

“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world…’”  Jn 8:12

“Now as he (Paul) journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed about him. And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you Lord?’”  Acts 9:3-5

“For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.”  II Cor 4:6

In our darkest moments, let us look for the glimmer of Christ’s light in our own hearts and in the lives of Christians around us, in the pregnant woman, in the manger, in the night sky, on the mountain top, even down the darkened meandering road….

The Annunciation from the High Altar of St. Peter’s in Hamburg, the Grabower Altar, 1383 Master Bertram of Minden

The message of Psalm 85 is Messianic.

“Near indeed is salvation for the loyal…
Love and truth will meet;
justice and peace will kiss.
Truth will spring from the earth;
justice will look down from heaven.”

A note in the New Jerusalem Bible concerning these latter verses of the Psalm explains: ‘Personified attributes of God; these will inaugurate the kingdom of God on earth and in human hearts.’

Indeed, we can contemplate this verse in terms of the glorious Incarnation of Jesus Christ; in which the exquisite nobility of Heaven truly kisses our humble earth.

‘Truth will spring from the earth’, reminds us that Adam was created from the slime of the earth, but now in Mary – his descendant and a mere creature, yet immaculately conceived – ‘truth’ springs to life awaiting the salvation and justice of God. The love of God and the ‘truth’ of His creation (in the person of Mary) “will meet”.* And ‘justice’ will not only ‘look down from heaven’, but will send Gabriel down from heaven….and then the ‘Holy Spirit will come’ down from heaven and overshadow Mary. ‘Justice’, according to the Divine Plan of Salvation will come down from heaven.

In the very conception of Jesus Christ, at the very first cell of His earthly life as a human being, True God and true man; Love and Truth meet, Justice and Peace kiss.

* Yes, Christ is “The way, the truth and the life”. Mary as the ‘truth’ of creation, is but a humble reflection of the glorious Truth that is Jesus Christ, and she embraces His truth within her body (as Mother) and within her heart (as 1^st believer), and even testifies to His awesome truth (as 1^st disciple); “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” (Lk 1:46-47). Mary as ‘truth’ in creation magnifies the Eternal and glorious Truth of our Creator!

But the great St. John Eudes didn’t look at it quite like that and wrote an extremely lengthy prayer for Christians to recite on their birthdays. Here are a few excerpts:

Prayer to Jesus for the Anniversary of Your Birth

“O Jesus, I adore Thee in Thy eternal birth and Thy divine dwelling for all eternity in the bosom of Thy Father. I also adore Thee in Thy temporal conception, and in Thy presence in the sacred womb of Thy most pure mother, for the space of nine months, and in Thy birth into this world at the end of that time. I adore and revere the great and admirable occurrence of these mysteries…

Again I adore and glorify Thee, O Good Jesus, as performing all these things for Thyself, and for me and for everyone in the world. On this anniversary of my birth I give myself to Thee, O my Dear Jesus, that I may now repeat the acts Thou didst perfect while dwelling from all eternity in the bosom of the Father, and for nine months in the womb of Thy mother…

Such, O my Lord, is the rightful homage I ought to have rendered to Thee, had I been able, at the moment of my birth, and indeed from the first moment of my life, that I now endeavor to render to Thee, although very tardily and imperfectly…

In Thy temporal birth, Thou didst render for me to Thy Father all the rightful homage I should have rendered Him at my own birth, and Thou didst then practice all the acts and exercises of devotion that I should have practiced. Be Thou blessed for ever!”

St. John Eudes, The Life and the Kingdom of Jesus in Christian Souls

The Vision of St. Juliana (1191-1258) of Mont Cornillon (about 1645/50)

Philippe de Champaigne 1602 – 1674

You may have never heard of  St. Juliana of Cornillon (Juliana of Liege), 1192 -1258. She was an Augustinian nun who was the first promoter of a feast day in honor of the Blessed Sacrament.  In his November 17, 2010 audience Pope Benedict spoke eloquently about St. Juliana.

“The Pope explained how the Belgian saint “possessed great culture, … and a profound sense of the presence of Christ, which she experienced particularly intensely in the Sacrament of the Eucharist”.  At the age of sixteen she had a vision which convinced her of the need to establish a liturgical feast for Corpus Christi “in which believers would be able to adore the Eucharist so as to augment their faith, increase the practice of virtue and mend the wrongs done to the Blessed Sacrament”, said the Holy Father.  Click here to read more.

What many people don’t know is that she also had a profound devotion to Christ in His Blessed Mother’s womb.  Here is an excerpt from a book about her life written in 1873 detailing this devotion.

“She had also a great devotion for the feasts of our Lady, but of all her feasts, the one she celebrated with most ardent devotion and piety was the feast of the Annunciation. It seemed as if she could never cease from meditating upon and admiring the celestial simplicity of the words of the angel Gabriel; the trouble that his salutation at first gave to Mary, the consent that she gave to become the Mother of God, the profound humility, the more than angelic modesty, and the ardent love, our Blessed Lady displayed upon this occasion.

At the thought of the Eternal Word descending from the bosom of His Father, and becoming man for love of us, her heart became so inflamed with love, that it seemed to her she could no longer contain it within her breast…

A devotion that she frequently recommended to the other religious, was to recite the ” Ave Maria,” and the canticle ” Magnificat,” nine times every day, in honour of the nine months our Lord dwelt in the womb of His ever Blessed Mother; and she assured them that she was indebted to the practice of this devotion for many favours and graces she had obtained from heaven.

When ever she recited or sung the “Magnificat,” she was accustomed to contemplate the fatigues our Blessed Lady suffered in her journey from Nazareth to the house of her cousin Elizabeth. She then considered the tender embraces of those two women so beloved by God, the joy with which St. John the Baptist leaped in the womb of his mother, at the approach of Mary, who bore his Saviour within her womb; then she meditated upon their holy salutations and the thanksgivings they afterwards rendered to God.”

From: The Life of St. Juliana of Cornillon by Brother George Ambrose Bradbury, O.C. 1873. pp 24-25

The fourth chapter of Bringing Forth Christ: Five Feasts of the Child Jesus by St. Bonaventure is entitled: The Fourth Feast:  How The Son Of God Is Sought and Adored Spiritually With The Magi, By The Devout Soul.

The chapter starts with this quote:

“We come now to the fourth feast, the Adoration of the Magi. After the soul by God’s grace has spiritually conceived, brought forth and named this dear Child, the three kings (understood here as the three powers of the soul) resolve to go in search of the Child, already revealed to them in the royal city, that is, in the structure of the created universe.”

To read the entire chapter: click the link below:

The Fourth Feast: How the Son of God is Sought and Adored Spiritually with the Magi, by the Devout Soul

He was called Jesus (Luke 2:21)

The third chapter of Bringing Forth Christ: Five Feasts of the Child Jesus by St. Bonaventure is entitled: The Third Feast:  How The Infant Jesus Is Named Spiritually By A Devout Soul.

The chapter starts with this quote:

Thirdly, we come to consider how this holy Infant, now born spiritually, shall be named.  And I think there is no name more fitting for him than Jesus, for scripture says:  He was called Jesus (Luke 2:21). This is the most sacred of all names. It was foretold by the prophets, announced by an angel, proclaimed by the apostles and desired by all the saints. 0 powerful name! 0 grace-filled and joyous name! 0 delightful and glorious name!

To read the entire chapter: click the link below:

The Third Feast:  How The Infant Jesus Is Named Spiritually By A Devout Soul.

The picture above is a mural on the Visitation Church in Ein Kerem on the outskirts of Jerusalem which commemorates Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth and the Magnificat

Certainly as we accompany the Church from the First Sunday of Advent to Christmas Eve, we are exposed to many traditional and beautiful readings from scripture and powerful themes for our edification.

We look back historically – and hear the prophets proclaim the Messianic Age.

We look forward prophetically – to the Great Mystery of the Final Coming of Christ.

We live the present expectantly – preparing for Christmas and our encounter with Christ!

In a General Audience in 2002, John Paul II spoke of the Church providing us with 3 guides for Advent: The Prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist and Mary the Mother of Jesus.

In the Penitential Season of Lent – we discover our Savior and our need of Redemption.

In the Penitential Season of Advent – we seek a Baby and contemplate His Incarnation.

One way to travel your Advent weeks to Christmas is to accompany Mary (and Unborn Jesus) on her (and His) nine month journey. Their journey together is gestational and spiritual….but when you join them on their journey it becomes very personal.

Enter into the Mystery of the Incarnation. Mary is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and conceives the Son of God – then she leaves in haste on a 4 day journey to the hill country of Judah to visit her pregnant cousin Elizabeth. When she arrives remarkable events unfold – her unborn Child right in the middle of it all (CCC #717). On one level, Mary is visiting Elizabeth, on another level, God is visiting His people. You can join in this visit.

Three months later, Elizabeth gives birth to her baby John, and shortly thereafter, Mary (and Unborn Jesus) return to Nazareth. Trusting Joseph encounters Mary (and Child) and becomes perplexed, then resolved upon a course of action. But God introduces into the marvelous mystery of the Incarnation a simple human institution called ‘adoption’. The angel of the Lord visits Joseph in a dream and the rest is salvation history. You can visit Nazareth during the second and third trimesters of this singular Redemptive Pregnancy.

Travel to Bethlehem with the Holy Family. Witness the rejection this young pregnant mother experiences as the door to the inn is closed in her face, and the babe in her womb vigorously stirs within her. Behold Joseph’s resolve now. Watch God the Father provide for the birth of His Son. The angels tell all! The shepherds teach all!

Finally, you can welcome God’s newborn newfound Love at journey’s end with worship  and a promise to be childlike yourself, and always respectful of the child.