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| The Annunciation, El Greco |
Day 20: The Annunciation
Read The Jesse Tree, pp. 72-73 (skip p. 74 for now; we'll cover it when we discuss Joseph). Hang ornament (Mary).
The angel Gabriel appears to Mary, bringing her the news that she will be the mother of the Messiah.
Scripture reference: Luke 1:26-38
Comment: For millenia those who love God have waited for the Messiah to come. They have prayed, suffered, and died in this hope. Constantly, they have looked for His appearing. Now, the angel Gabriel is sent at last to the Virgin. He brings a great announcement: the Messiah will be conceived in her! He will be the Son of the Living God! He will reign forever on the throne of David! Salvation is coming! But, all along, through all of history, God has been preparing mankind for this great news. Most importantly, He prepared Our Lady to be the holy, perfect tabernacle that would hold His holy, perfect Son, Jesus. From the very instant of her conception, Mary was conceived without original sin--pure in body and soul. Unlike us, Mary did not suffer from an attraction to sin, from a disordered desire to impurity (we call this disorder "concupiscence"). Throughout her life, she remained without any touch or trace of sin. She was therefore created perfectly to carry the Most Holy God within her womb.
Related Title: The Immaculate Conception
The angel Gabriel appears to Mary, bringing her the news that she will be the mother of the Messiah.
Scripture reference: Luke 1:26-38
Comment: For millenia those who love God have waited for the Messiah to come. They have prayed, suffered, and died in this hope. Constantly, they have looked for His appearing. Now, the angel Gabriel is sent at last to the Virgin. He brings a great announcement: the Messiah will be conceived in her! He will be the Son of the Living God! He will reign forever on the throne of David! Salvation is coming! But, all along, through all of history, God has been preparing mankind for this great news. Most importantly, He prepared Our Lady to be the holy, perfect tabernacle that would hold His holy, perfect Son, Jesus. From the very instant of her conception, Mary was conceived without original sin--pure in body and soul. Unlike us, Mary did not suffer from an attraction to sin, from a disordered desire to impurity (we call this disorder "concupiscence"). Throughout her life, she remained without any touch or trace of sin. She was therefore created perfectly to carry the Most Holy God within her womb.
Related Title: The Immaculate Conception
We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.
—Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854Morning Prayer for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Father,
you prepared the Virgin Mary
to be the worthy mother of your Son.
You let her share beforehand
in the salvation Christ
would bring by his death,
and kept her sinless
from the first moment of her conception.
Help us by her prayers
to live in your presence without sin.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
you prepared the Virgin Mary
to be the worthy mother of your Son.
You let her share beforehand
in the salvation Christ
would bring by his death,
and kept her sinless
from the first moment of her conception.
Help us by her prayers
to live in your presence without sin.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God for ever and ever.
Amen
“A soul that is consecrated to the Immaculate, even if it does not turn its thought in an explicit way to the Immaculate and offers the prayer, the work, the suffering or any other thing, directly to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that soul procures for the Heart of Jesus a pleasure that is incomparably greater than it would if it were not consecrated to the Immaculate.” St. Maximilian Kolbe
“A soul that is consecrated to the Immaculate, even if it does not turn its thought in an explicit way to the Immaculate and offers the prayer, the work, the suffering or any other thing, directly to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, that soul procures for the Heart of Jesus a pleasure that is incomparably greater than it would if it were not consecrated to the Immaculate.” St. Maximilian Kolbe
Many quotes from St. Maximilian Kolbe here.
Read more on the Immaculate Conception at Women for Faith and Family
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