Luke 1:26-38Luke 1:26-38
"Fiat!" The flaming word
Flashed, as the brooding Bird,
Uttered the doom far-heard,
Of Death and Night.
"Fiat!" A cloistered womb -
A sealed, untainted tomb -
Wakes to the birth and bloom
Of Life and Light!
-Rev. John B. Tabb
In the sixth month, from the time that the Angel appeared to Zachary, telling him that his wife was to have a son, Saint John the Baptist, the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the Virgin's name was Mary.
While this humble virgin was deeply absorbed in prayer, suddenly the Angel Gabriel entered her chamber, and said to her: "Hail, full of grace! the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou amongst women!"
When Mary heard these strange and, to her, startling words, she became exceedingly troubled, not knowing what they could mean. But the angel hastened to relieve her anxiety by telling her that God had sent him to announce the coming of the Messiah, and that she had been chosen to be His Mother. When Mary objected that she was a Virgin, and knew not man, the angel bade her fear not: "For the Holy Ghost would come upon her, and the power of the Most High would overshadow her, and the Holy One that should be born of her should be called the Son of God." To confirm his words, Gabriel told her that her cousin Elizabeth had also conceived a son in her old age. When Mary understood the great things God proposed to do in her, she no longer opposed the Divine Will, but gave her consent, by saying: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." And the angel departed from her.
The same moment she consented, she became the Mother of God.
Gabriel from the Heaven descending,
On the faithful Word attending,
Is in holy converse blending
With the Virgin full of grace:
That good word and sweet he plighteth
In the bosom where it lighteth,
And for Eva Ave writeth,
Changing Eva's name and race.
At the promise that he sendeth
God the Incarnate Word descendeth;
Yet no carnal touch offendeth
Her the undefiled one,
She without a father, beareth,
She no bridal union shareth
And a painless birth declareth
That she bore the Royal Son.
Tale that wondering search entices!
But believe - and that suffices;
It is not for man's devices
Here to pry with gaze unmeet:
High the sign, its place assuming
In the bush the unconsuming,
Mortal, veil thine eyes presuming,
Loose thy shoes from off thy feet.
Bless'd is the womb that bore Him - bless'd
The bosom where His lips were press'd,
But rather bless'd are they
Who hear His word and keep it well,
The living homes where Christ shall dwell,
And never pass away.
- Adam of Saint Victor
- text taken from Heaven's Bright Queen, by William James Walsh