25thMarch - Solemnity The Annunciation

[BarbTherese]

"8 Things to know and share about The Annunciation": http://www.ncregister.com/blog/jimmy-akin/8-things-to-know-and-share-about-the-annunciation

Quote

Excerpt only: "................... Yet she placed herself completely at the service of God's will.

Commenting on this, Pope Benedict writes:

"In one of his Advent homilies, Bernard of Clairvaux offers a stirring presentation of the drama of this moment. After the error of our first parents, the whole world was shrouded in darkness, under the dominion of death. Now God seeks to enter the world anew. He knocks at Mary’s door. He needs human freedom. The only way he can redeem man, who was created free, is by means of a free 'yes' to his will. In creating freedom, he made himself in a certain sense dependent upon man. His power is tied to the unenforceable 'yes' of a human being. So Bernard portrays heaven and earth as it were holding its breath at this moment of the question addressed to Mary. Will she say yes? She hesitates … will her humility hold her back? Just this once—Bernard tells her—do not be humble but daring! Give us your 'yes'! This is the crucial moment when, from her lips, from her heart, the answer comes: 'Let it be to me according to your word.' It is the moment of free, humble yet magnanimous obedience in which the loftiest choice of human freedom is made" (Jesus of Nazareth 3: The Infancy Narratives, ch. 2).