Mary, Mother of God…the Annunciation

(November 12, 1925) Our Lord says: In order to make the Divine Will known and to make It reign as prime act of life in the creature, the completion of the human acts are necessary. Nothing must flee from you. My Will embraces everything: you must also embrace everyone and everything and put It in the first place of honour upon all the acts of the creatures: that alone is My Will. It will be your coin, with which you coin the image of My Will in al the acts of the creatures.

Lord, Your mother covered all the good acts; of the Patriarch, the Fathers, the Prophets and all the good people of the Old Testament with Her Innocence, Sanctity and Purity. With the sanctity and power of the Divine Will, I embrace all the acts done in the Old Testament, those of the Queen of Heaven, those acts done in Your Humanity and those acts being done and that will be done by all the good and holy persons to the end of days. With the sanctity and power of Your Divine Will I place my seal of exchange of love, blessings, adoration and thanksgiving on all these acts. Amen. Fiat.

March 25, 2007 Fifth Sunday of Lent

Here is recorded the “angelic salutation” of Gabriel to Mary, ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee” (Ave, gratia plena, Dominus tecum - Lk 1:28), and Mary’s response to God’s will, “Let it be done to me according to thy word” (fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum)

The Angelus is a short devotion in honor of the Incarnation, repeated three times each day, morning, noon, and evening, at the sound of the bell. It consists essentially in the triple repetition of the “Hail Mary”, to which in later times have been added three introductory versicles, and a concluding versicle and prayer.
During the Easter season, the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) replaces the usual arrangement of the Angelus prayers. The Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen) is often recited as the concluding prayer.
The devotion derives its name from the first word of the three versicles, Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ (The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary).
The origins of the Angelus are somewhat obscure, but it seems clear they are rooted in monastic prayers of the hours, and even in its earliest form included the three “Hail Mary”. Originally the Angelus prayers were said at Complin (night prayer), and over the years mid-day and morning hours were added. By the early seventeenth century the formula of prayers exactly as we know it today was complete.

The Angelus Bells

The triple “Hail Mary” was closely associated with the ringing of a bell, a practice apparently derived from the monastic tradition of Compline. The three interrupted peals of the Ave bell probably served as an introduction to the continuous tolling of the curfew that preceded Matins (morning prayer).

The manner of ringing the Angelus — the triple stroke repeated three times, with a pause between each set of three (a total of nine strokes), which might be followed by a longer peal as at curfew — seems to have been in place from the very beginning. In the fifteenth-century constitutions of Syon monastery, it is directed that the lay brother “shall toll the Ave bell nine strokes at three times, keeping the space of one Pater and Ave between each three tollings”.

Bells dedicated to the Angelus can be found throughout Europe — inscriptions include: Ave Maria and O Rex Gloriæ Veni Cum Pace (O King of Glory, Come with Peace). A number of European Angelus bells are dedicated to Saint Gabriel, with inscriptions including: Dulcis instar mellis campana vecor Gabrielis (I am sweet as honey, and am called Gabriel’s bell) and Missus vero pie Gabriel fert læta Mariæ (Gabriel the messenger bears joyous tidings to holy Mary.)

A fifteenth-century bell at Erfert bears the words: Cum ter reboo, pie Christiferam ter aveto (When I ring thrice, thrice devoutly greet the Mother of Christ). Though the practice of saying the Angelus declined in the latter half of the twentieth century, many parishes continue the tradition of ringing the Angelus bells, traditionally at 6:00 a.m., noon and 6:00 p.m.

Children may, quite naturally, think that the birth of Jesus is the time when Our Savior first “became Man”, especially since Christmas has become the Christian holiday in our culture. We understand best what we can see, what is visible. The invisible, the hidden, is no less real for our lack of seeing it. (We think of the baby in its mother’s womb, known and felt, though unseen, only to her.)

Even very young children can know the truth about the growth of a baby inside its mother’s body, especially if the mother of the family (or an aunt, perhaps) happens to be pregnant on the holiday. The nine months’ wait from March 25 to December 25 for the Baby to be born would be interesting to most children. (God made no special rules for His own bodily development!) What better way than the reading first chapter of Luke to gently begin teaching children about the beginning of each new human life?

Children should be told how important it is to every person that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1), and parents can find this feast a valuable teaching moment.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church on Article 3 of the Creed: “He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and was born of the Virgin Mary” (§436-511), should be read by parents. This will not only give adults a timely review of Catholic doctrine, but it can be a great help to us in transmitting important truths of the faith to our children. The summary at the end can help formulate points we want to emphasize. Excerpts from the Catechism could be read aloud to older children.

HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II MASS IN THE BASILICA OF THE ANNUNCIATION
Israel ¬ Nazareth Saturday, March 25, 2000

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word” (Angelus Prayer).

Your Beatitude,
Brother Bishops,
Father Custos,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. 25th March in the year 2000, the Solemnity of the Annunciation in the Year of the Great Jubilee: on this day the eyes of the whole Church turn to Nazareth. I have longed to come back to the town of Jesus, to feel once again, in contact with this place, the presence of the woman of whom Saint Augustine wrote: “He chose the mother he had created; he created the mother he had chosen” (Sermo 69, 3, 4). Here it is especially easy to understand why all generations call Mary blessed (cf. Lk 2:48).
I warmly greet Your Beatitude Patriarch Michel Sabbah, and thank you for your kind words of presentation. With Archbishop Boutros Mouallem and all of you ¬ Bishops, priests, religious women and men, and members of the laity ¬ I rejoice in the grace of this solemn celebration. I am happy to have this opportunity to greet the Franciscan Minister General, Father Giacomo Bini, who welcomed me on my arrival, and to express to the Custos, Father Giovanni Battistelli, and the Friars of the Custody the admiration of the whole Church for the devotion with which you carry out your unique vocation. With gratitude I pay tribute to your faithfulness to the charge given to you by Saint Francis himself and confirmed by the Popes down the centuries.
2. We are gathered to celebrate the great mystery accomplished here two thousand years ago. The Evangelist Luke situates the event clearly in time and place: “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph. . . The virgin’s name was Mary” (1:26-27). But in order to understand what took place in Nazareth two thousand years ago, we must return to the Reading from the Letter to the Hebrews. That text enables us, as it were, to listen to a conversation between the Father and the Son concerning God’s purpose from all eternity. “You who wanted no sacrifice or oblation prepared a body for me. You took no pleasure in holocausts or sacrifices for sin. Then I said. . . ?God, here I am! I am coming to obey your will’” (10:5-7). The Letter to the Hebrews is telling us that, in obedience to the Father’s will, the Eternal Word comes among us to offer the sacrifice which surpasses all the sacrifices offered under the former Covenant. His is the eternal and perfect sacrifice which redeems the world.
The divine plan is gradually revealed in the Old Testament, particularly in the words of the Prophet Isaiah which we have just heard: “The Lord himself will give you a sign. It is this: the virgin is with child and will soon give birth to a child whom she will call Emmanuel” (7:14). Emmanuel - God with us. In these words, the unique event that was to take place in Nazareth in the fullness of time is foretold, and it is this event that we are celebrating here with intense joy and happiness.
3. Our Jubilee Pilgrimage has been a journey in spirit, which began in the footsteps of Abraham, “our father in faith” (Roman Canon; cf. Rom 4:11-12). That journey has brought us today to Nazareth, where we meet Mary, the truest daughter of Abraham. It is Mary above all others who can teach us what it means to live the faith of “our father”. In many ways, Mary is clearly different from Abraham; but in deeper ways “the friend of God” (cf. Is 41:8) and the young woman of Nazareth are very alike.
Both receive a wonderful promise from God. Abraham was to be the father of a son, from whom there would come a great nation. Mary is to be the Mother of a Son who would be the Messiah, the Anointed One. “Listen!”, Gabriel says, ” You are to conceive and bear a son. . . The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. . . and his reign will have no end” (Lk 1:31-33).
For both Abraham and Mary, the divine promise comes as something completely unexpected. God disrupts the daily course of their lives, overturning its settled rhythms and conventional expectations. For both Abraham and Mary, the promise seems impossible. Abraham’s wife Sarah was barren, and Mary is not yet married: “How can this come about”, she asks, “since I am a virgin?” (Lk 1:34).
4. Like Abraham, Mary is asked to say yes to something that has never happened before. Sarah is the first in the line of barren wives in the Bible who conceive by God’s power, just as Elizabeth will be the last. Gabriel speaks of Elizabeth to reassure Mary: “Know this too: your kinswoman Elizabeth has, in her old age, herself conceived a son” (Lk 1:36).
Like Abraham, Mary must walk through darkness, in which she must simply trust the One who called her. Yet even her question, “How can this come about?”, suggests that Mary is ready to say yes, despite her fears and uncertainties. Mary asks not whether the promise is possible, but only how it will be fulfilled. It comes as no surprise, therefore, when finally she utters her fiat: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said be done to me” (Lk 1:38). With these words, Mary shows herself the true daughter of Abraham, and she becomes the Mother of Christ and Mother of all believers.
5. In order to penetrate further into the mystery, let us look back to the moment of Abraham’s journey when he received the promise. It was when he welcomed to his home three mysterious guests (cf. Gen 18:1-15), and offered them the adoration due to God: tres vidit et unum adoravit. That mysterious encounter foreshadows the Annunciation, when Mary is powerfully drawn into communion with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Through the fiat that Mary uttered in Nazareth, the Incarnation became the wondrous fulfilment of Abraham’s encounter with God. So, following in the footsteps of Abraham, we have come to Nazareth to sing the praises of the woman “through whom the light rose over the earth” (Hymn Ave Regina Caelorum).
6. But we have also come to plead with her. What do we, pilgrims on our way into the Third Christian Millennium, ask of the Mother of God? Here in the town which Pope Paul VI, when he visited Nazareth, called “the school of the Gospel”, where “we learn to look at and to listen to, to ponder and to penetrate the deep and mysterious meaning of the very simple, very humble and very beautiful appearing of the Son of God” (Address in Nazareth, 5 January 1964), I pray, first, for a great renewal of faith in all the children of the Church. A deep renewal of faith: not just as a general attitude of life, but as a conscious and courageous profession of the Creed: “Et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine, et homo factus est.”
In Nazareth, where Jesus “grew in wisdom and age and grace before God and men” (Lk 2:52), I ask the Holy Family to inspire all Christians to defend the family against so many present-day threats to its nature, its stability and its mission. To the Holy Family I entrust the efforts of Christians and of all people of good will to defend life and to promote respect for the dignity of every human being.
To Mary, the Theotókos, the great Mother of God, I consecrate the families of the Holy Land, the families of the world.
In Nazareth where Jesus began his public ministry, I ask Mary to help the Church everywhere to preach the “good news” to the poor, as he did (cf. Lk 4:18). In this “year of the Lord’s favour”, I ask her to teach us the way of humble and joyful obedience to the Gospel in the service of our brothers and sisters, without preferences and without prejudices.
“O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me. Amen” (Memorare).

History of Nazareth

The town is not mentioned in the Old Testament, nor even in the works of Josephus. Yet, it was not such an insignificant hamlet as is generally believed. We know, first, that it possessed a synagogue. Neubaurer (La géographie du Talmud, p. 190) quotes, moreover, an elegy on the destruction of Jerusalem, taken from ancient Midrashim now lost, and according to this document, Nazareth was a home for the priests who went by turns to Jerusalem, for service in the Temple. Up to the time of Constantine, it remained exclusively a Jewish town. St. Epiphaenius (Adv. Haereses, I, ii, haer., 19) relates that in 339 Joseph, Count of Tiberias, told him that, by a special order of the emperor, “he built churches to Christ in the towns of the Jews, in which there were none, for the reason that neither Greeks, Samaritans, nor Christians were allowed to settle there, viz., at Tiberias, at Diocaesarea, or Sepphoris, at Nazareth, and at Capharnaum”. St. Paula and St. Sylvia of Aquitaine visited the shrines of Nazareth towards the end of the fourth century, as well as Theodosius about 530; but their short accounts contain no description of its monuments. The Pilgrim of Piacenza saw there about 570, besides “the dwelling of Mary converted into a basilica”, the “ancient synagogue”. A little treatise of the same century, entitled “Liber nominum locorum ex Actis”, speaks of the church of the Annunciation and of another erected on the site of the house “where our Lord was brought up”. In 670 Arculf gave Adamnan an interesting description of the basilica of the Annunciation and of the church of the “Nutrition of Jesus”.

The toleration which the Moslems showed towards the Christians, after conquering the country in 637, did not last long. Willibald, who visited Nazareth about 725, found only the basilica of the Annunciation, “which the Christians”, he says “often redeemed from the Saracens, when they threatened to destroy it”. However, in 808 the author of the “Commemoratorium de easis Dei” found twelve monks at the basilica, and eight at the Precipice, “a mile away from the town”. The Greek emperor, John Zimisces, reconquered Galilee from the Arabs in 920, but, five years afterwards, he was poisoned by his eunuchs, and his soldiers abandoned the country. The basilica, finally ruined under the reign of the Calif Hakem (1010), was rebuilt by the crusaders in 1101, as well as the church of the Nutrition, or St. Joseph’s House. At the same time the Greeks erected the church of St. Gabriel near the Virgin’s Well. The archiepiscopal See of Scythopolis was also transferred to Nazareth. After the disastrous battle of Hattin (1187), the crusaders, with the European clergy, were compelled to leave the town. On 25 March, 1254, St. Louis and Queen Marguerite celebrated the feast of the Annunciation at Nazareth; but nine years later, the Sultan Bibars completely destroyed all the Christian buildings, and Nazareth soon dwindled down to a poor village. In the fourteenth century, a few Franciscan Friars established themselves there, among the ruins of the basilica. They had much to suffer during their stay, and many of them were even put to death, especially in 1385, in 1448, and in 1548, when all the friars were driven out of the country. In 1620 Fakher ed Dîn, Emir of the Druses, allowed them to build a church over the Grotto of the Annunciation; but it was ruined some years later by the Bedouins. The Franciscans nevertheless remained near the sanctuary, and in 1730 the powerful Sheikh Dhaher el Amer authorized them to erect the church which is still to be seen.

SITES

In the fourth century, local tradition indicated the house of the Virgin at the top of the southern point of the hill, which rises some 30 feet over the plain. The dwelling consisted of a little building with a grotto in the rear. Even now, other dwellings like this are to be found in Nazareth. Explorations made in 1909, beneath and around the present church, brought to light the whole plan of the ancient basilica of Constantine. It was built from west to east, divided into three naves by two rows of syenite columns, and the grotto was in the north nave. The crusaders followed the same plan, and even kept the two rows of columns; they only added new pillars and gave to the façade, as well as to the apse, the appearance and solidity of a fortress. The Franciscans erected their church across the ancient building, so as to bring the grotto beneath the choir at the end of the central nave. The crypt was always three or four feet below the pavement of the church. Since 1730, there have been fifteen steps leading down to the Chapel of the Angel, and two more to the Grotto itself. The chapel is the traditional site of the house, properly so-called, of the Virgin; at the north end of it, the mosaic pavement is well preserved, and is adorned with an inscription in Greek letters which undoubtedly dates from the sixth century. A beautiful altar dedicated to the mystery of the Annunciation occupies the Grotto. On the left are two columns of porphyry, certainly placed there in the fourth century.

About 300 paces northeast of the basilica of the Annunciation, “the church of the Nutrition” marked the traditional site of St. Joseph’s dwelling, where, after the warning of the Angel (Matthew 1:20), he received Mary his spouse with the ceremonial prescribed by the law for matrimony. After his return from Egypt, Joseph came back to Nazareth and, with the Virgin and the Divine Child, again occupied his own house. There Jesus was brought up and dwelt till he left the town at the beginning of His public life. Two documents of the fourth century allude to this place, and two others of the sixth and seventh mention the church of the Nutrition, built over it. Excavations made in 1909 brought to light the lower layers of a fine church of the twelfth century, from which a staircase hewn in the rock descends to an irregular grotto excavated beneath the sanctuary. Several interesting details answer to the description given by Arculf in 670. The Franciscans are about to rebuild this sanctuary.
The mountain “whereon the city is built” ends in a row of hills that overlook the town. On the south, one mile and a half away, the chain of hills terminates abruptly in two precipitous peaks separated by a deep, wild gorge. The western peak is called Jebel el Qafsah, “Mount of the Leap”, or “of the Precipice”. A monastery building on this mountain, where the Jews would have cast Christ down headlong, was still occupied by eight monks at the beginning of the ninth century. The ruins now to be seen there belong to the convent of the time of the Crusades.