Tuesday, May 5, 2009

A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun

It is her month -- the month of May when we celebrate the Virgin Queen of Heaven, our dear Lady, the Blessed and Holy Mother of God. As a young woman without worldly experience she reversed the curse of Eve by her fiat, her perfect obedience and submission to the will of God that she was to be the Mother of the Redeemer. God, in absolute gentleness and profound respect for the sovereign will of His creature, ask Mary to assume the awesome responsibility and privilege of bearing the Redeemer. In her immaculate heart, Mary conceived the Logos before He was conceived in her womb. In unknowable ecstasy she conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and the Logos become human. In that unique moment in history her yes became our blessing.

Mary is the antithesis of Eve. Eve brought death to her offspring by her disobedience. Mary brought Life to her offspring by her perfect obedience. At the moment of her perfect submission to the Divine Will, the archangel Gabriel witnessed a sight that caused him to fall down in adoration and awe -- the Second Person of the Trinity, through whom and for whom all was created, assumed a human nature and condescended to become a human being. The great mystery of the Incarnation, when God became human so that we might share in the very life of God, had been accomplished. Human nature would be remade. In the crucible of suffering our Lord would forge our redemption and extend to us the hand of friendship that had been lost by the sin of our first parents.

Let us rejoice at the Holy Incarnation, in the "fetus" conceived and nurtured in absolute love, and wonder again at the unborn Christ who sanctified all of human existence by His participation in our life. Let us remember that we reverence human life because God himself created each of us in love, and bequeaths on us the awesome gift of His own participation in our humanity. Jesus is truly our Hope, our authentic Hope in these unsettling times.

Finally, let us further rejoice in the Holy Virgin, who said yes to God's will for her, and facilitated the salvation of the world.

I am your own, Oh Mother of God. To you, protectress and leader, my songs of victory. To you who deliver me from danger, my hymn of thanksgiving. In your invincible power deliver me from all danger, that I may sing to you: "Hail Oh Bride and Maiden ever pure!" (Acathist)