Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Finally, Elizabeth gave birth to John the Baptist. Here is a picture of Elizabeth after giving birth. My mother is seated in the foreground holding newborn John. (You can’t see me.) Lk 1:57
Meditation
The first three months of Jesus’ life were spent with unborn John. He stayed till John was born.
What does that say to our world?
Could it be that Unborn Jesus was sanctifying the unborn state and hallowing the journey that all unborn infants take from conception to birth? For three months all appears ordinary even though the presence of Christ Unborn is extraordinary. It is precisely the ordinariness of their lives now and the nearness of the two unborn infants to each other that underscores the solidarity that exists between Unborn Jesus and all unborn infants. He is, in an incomprehensible way, a steadfast companion to this little one growing towards birth.
Finally, John is born. The end of his gestation brings celebration. The birth of a child is one of the most profound experiences a woman and a couple can undergo. Unborn Jesus waited for unborn John’s journey to end and this new beginning.
And the Incarnate Word “saw that it was good”, the two hundred and eightieth day.
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Mary Visits Elizabeth, Andrei Severetnikov
My mother and I stayed with cousin Elizabeth, Zechariah and unborn John for three months. Our parents spent this time in fellowship, prayer and reflection.
Meditation
The tone established for this ninety‑day visit might simply be stated as joy. Joy in the fulfillment of God’s promises! Messianic Joy!
The focus of the ninety‑day visit was preparation. God had called all of these individuals to serve Him in a most extraordinary manner, and before proceeding further God prepared them for the months and years ahead. Elizabeth and Zechariah were well disposed, after six quiet months spent in large measure listening, praying and reflecting. Mary was young and eager to continue as the Lord willed. But all three needed this special time with the Word Incarnate. And paradoxically, unborn John would now be prepared by the unborn Lord to years later return the favor and “prepare the way of the Lord” (Is 40:3).
We can not say definitively what Unborn Jesus did while still in the womb of His mother. But we can ponder these events with faith and love. What was this Divine Presence like within Mary’s womb, nestled under the beacon of her heart? “The flame of fire in the burning bush was a figure of Jesus in Mary’s sacred womb…. So He still speaks as if concealed in Mary’s womb…”*
… Perhaps another analogy might help us to further appreciate the power of this Unborn presence. Consider how the fire in a fireplace within a small cabin draws all who enter towards its glowing warmth. In a similar spiritual sense, the Unborn Son of God would have attracted His hosts ‑ Elizabeth and Zechariah ‑ to Himself. For their part, remaining humble and receptive, they would sense the tranquility of His Being and their open hearts would be enflamed by His nearness. Similarly, recall how the woman who touched the hem of His garment, while a crowd bustled about Him, was instantly healed by the Power in Him. Crowds were attracted to Him. For those of good will, His presence was attractiveness itself, and no doubt His physical presence would have become the new focal point of this small home. Excerpt from Unborn Jesus Our Hope, George Peate.
*This quote taken from Richard F. Clarke, S.J., “The Coming Of Christ”, pamphlet D446 (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1964), 38
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
Mary in the House of Elizabeth by Robert Anning Bell (1863-1933)
My mother and I visited with cousins Elizabeth (unborn John) and Zechariah for three months (Luke 1:56). Here are my mother and Elizabeth sewing baby clothes.
Meditation
“We live in an age of impatience, an age which in everything, from learning the ABC to industry, tries to cut out and do away with the natural season of growth. That is why so much in our life is abortive. We ought to let everything grow in us, as Christ grew in Mary….. No man should ever make anything except in the spirit in which a woman bears a child, in the spirit in which Christ was formed in Mary’s womb, in the love with which God created the world.”
“In this contemplation there is great virtue in practicing patience in small things until the habit of Advent returns to us.”
Caryll Houselander (1901 – 1954)
The Reed Of God
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
From Salzburg Cathedral exhibit Mary Expectant with Child November 25, 2006 – January 7, 2007
My mother’s joy and happiness could not be contained. She was filled with wonder and began to rejoice in God’s magnificent plan of Salvation. Listen to her beautiful prayer the Magnificat.
Meditation
“Mary also anticipated, in the mystery of the incarnation, the Church’s Eucharistic faith. When, at the Visitation, she bore in her womb the Word made flesh, she became in some way a “tabernacle” – the first “tabernacle” in history – in which the Son of God, still invisible to our human gaze, allowed himself to be adored by Elizabeth, radiating his light as it were through the eyes and the voice of Mary….”
“In the Eucharist the Church is completely united to Christ and his sacrifice, and makes her own the spirit of Mary. This truth can be understood more deeply by re-reading the Magnificat in a Eucharistic key. The Eucharist, like the Canticle of Mary, is first and foremost praise and thanksgiving.
When Mary exclaims: ‘My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour’, she already bears Jesus in her womb. She praises God ‘through’ Jesus, but she also praises him ‘in’ Jesus and ‘with’ Jesus. This is itself the true ‘Eucharistic attitude’. At the same time Mary recalls the wonders worked by God in salvation history in fulfillment of the promise once made to the fathers (cf. Lk 1:55), and proclaims the wonder that surpasses them all, the redemptive incarnation.
Lastly, the Magnificat reflects the eschatological tension of the Eucharist. Every time the Son of God comes again to us in the “poverty” of the sacramental signs of bread and wine, the seeds of that new history wherein the mighty are ‘put down from their thrones’ and ‘those of low degree are exalted’ (cf. Lk 1:52), take root in the world.
… The Magnificat expresses Mary’s spirituality, and there is nothing greater than this spirituality for helping us to experience the mystery of the Eucharist. The Eucharist has been given to us so that our life, like that of Mary, may become completely a Magnificat!”
John Paul II, Encyclical Letter Ecclesia de Eucharistia, sectionz 55, 58
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
STRUEB, Hans and/or Jakob
The Visitation
c. 1505
Cousin Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy with John the Baptist. Here is my mother greeting Elizabeth. I blessed unborn John and he leaped for joy. (Luke 1:39-55)
Meditation
“Humble Elizabeth has an important role in this encounter; Fulton Sheen spoke of it in this way: “One of the most beautiful moments in history was that when pregnancy met pregnancy ‑ when child bearers became the first heralds of the King of Kings.” God moves in mysterious ways. Fittingly, the elder of the two women present takes the lead in describing the great work God was doing in their midst. Most spiritual writers have held that Mary understood that it was not her mystery to reveal, but one God would make known. Thus the need for discretion made it unfitting for Mary to proclaim her secret to Elizabeth. However, Mother Angelica notes that “Like all fathers, God could not keep the wonderful secret too long. He had to tell someone, and that someone was Elizabeth….”
Elizabeth seems to have been awestruck by the immediate revelation she received at this moment. Some people would be similarly overwhelmed should a famous celebrity or world leader walk in their front door, but for Elizabeth there could have been nothing more momentous than the pregnant mother of the Messiah – carrying Him within her – entering her home. The Holy Spirit imparts to Elizabeth the gifts of knowledge and understanding, and she, who is full of good will and faith, is enlightened as to the meaning of what is occurring (Lk 1:42).
Archbishop Goodier notes that “… throughout His life the one desire of Jesus was that He should be discovered; that He should be discovered, and recognized, owned. For every step made in that discovery He was grateful; no man made it but met with reward overflowing. The one thread of interest running through the whole drama of His life is the growth of this discovery.” Unborn John and his mother Elizabeth share in this first discovery together, as if to remind us all that the first place Jesus should be discovered is in the family.”
George Peate, Unborn Jesus Our Hope
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
After I was miraculously conceived in my mother’s womb, she went with haste into the hill country of Judah to visit her cousin Elizabeth (Lk 1:39). Here is a picture of us traveling by donkey and accompanied by angels.
Meditation
A Prayer by Caryll Houselander
Breath of Heaven,
carry us on the impulse
of Christ’s love,
as easily as thistledown
is carried on the wind;
that in the Advent season of our souls,
while He is formed in us,
in secret and in silence-
the Creator
in the hands of his creatures,
as the Host
in the hands of the priest-
we may carry Him forth
to wherever He wishes to be,
as Mary carried Him over the hills
on an errand of love,
to the house of Elizabeth.
From the Splendor of the Rosary by Maisie Ward
with prayers by
Caryll Houselander
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
The Annunciation… and then the angel left her
by Geraldine Farrell
My mother said ‘yes’ and the Holy Spirit overshadowed her – although I was miraculously conceived, I began life as one cell just like any other unborn baby. And then the angel Gabriel left her… she had become my mother.
Meditation
The following reflections are from Cardinal Bérulle 1575-1629 (founder of the French School of Theology). Some of the most notable followers of the French School were St. Louis de Montfort, St. John Eudes, and Father Jean-Jacques Olier.
“Stuttering rather than speaking, this is what we can say about things that so greatly surpass the human mind and even the angelic mind. These are the first thoughts of the incarnate Word. This is the first conversation of Jesus in the Virgin. This is the Virgin’s first contemplation, or better yet, this is the Virgin’s first ecstasy before the Son of God made Son of Man in her.” p. 166
“The Virgin is involved with Jesus and she is the only one in the whole world involved with Jesus. Thus she is the only one in the whole world adoring the mystery of the Incarnation, which was brought about on earth for the earth but unknown to the earth. She is the only one adoring Jesus. The more that she is the only one captivated by such a great subject, the greater is her involvement. She is devoted to it with all her faculties. All her senses are brought to bear on it, for it is a tangible mystery and tangible within her. All her senses should pay homage to her God made tangible for human nature. Her whole mind is concentrated on it. And the Spirit of Jesus, which enlivens this little divinized body, enlivens the spirit and body of the Virgin as well, through grace, love and a holy, gentle influence.” p. 164
Bérulle and the French School: selected writings By Pierre de Bérulle, edited by William M. Thompson
The following is a footnote by William M. Thompson
“The authors of the French School were so struck by the humiliation and sublime grandeur of Jesus living in Mary’s womb that they counted his time on earth from the moment of conception…Bérulle implies that Nazareth and not Bethlehem is where the “first birth” of Jesus occurs. It is fascinating to note that, although he intended to write about all of Jesus’ thirty-four years on earth, Bérulle’s Life of Jesus, through its thirty chapters, never moves beyond the nine months of gestation.” p. 187
Bérulle and the French School: selected writings By Pierre de Bérulle, edited by William M. Thompson
Tis the Season of ‘The Gospel of Life’
The Annunciation. c.1655 by Nicolas Poussin
I was conceived in Nazareth. The Angel Gabriel appeared to my mother, the Holy Spirit came upon her and the Power of the Most High overshadowed her. (Luke 1:26-38)
Meditation
“The Incarnation is as much the world in which we live as the globe on which we tread, with its earth, air, fire and water, its sun, moon and stars, its animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. If we look at our souls, their present wants and eternal expectations, their life, strength, health and maladies, the Incarnation is as indispensable to them, and as indispensable every hour of the day, as the heat and cold, the air and light, are to our natural subsistence..” We live and move in the Incarnation. We are what we are, through it. It covers us, underlies us, and is all around us. It is incessantly affecting us in almost numberless ways, both within and without. We cannot get beyond the reach of its blessed influence, even by disbelieving it or dishonoring it.” Father Faber (The Blessed Sacrament)
“When we cast the mysteries of His Life into great groups and masses, we make His Life threefold, Joyful, Suffering and Glorious. The most complete form is that which distinguishes eight lives in Him, His Unborn Life, Infant Life, Hidden Life, Public Life, Suffering Life, Risen Life, Ascended Life, and Sacramental Life. Into these moulds the Incarnation pours itself, and comes out in forms and shapes of the most surpassing beauty.” Father Faber (Bethlehem, p.242)
Conception by Gabori Sandor
When Christ came into the world He was an unborn baby. If we could have seen Him in the womb, we would have seen Him in His littleness and vulnerability. Initially, He barely looked human. Around 18 days after His conception, His rudimentary heart began to physically pulsate with blood – this would be the currency He would use to purchase the salvation of humankind! Like a mint manufacturing the currency of a commonwealth, here we would see the production of a body and It’s blood for a future day in the Kingdom of God, a day when a supreme price would be paid (I Cor 7:23).
Pope Pius XII reminds us that the mystery of Christ’s love is deeper than the physical body we might have observed, explaining that from the first moment of His conception: “Immediately the Heart of Jesus, ever to be adored, has begun to pulsate with love, divine and human” (Haurietis Aquas). So His Love precedes His blood. The river that is God’s Love becomes the stream of blood coursing through this unborn baby’s primitive heart; and it beats a psalmody of salvific love for us. But no one hears it yet…or rather, only His mother hears it, feels it, indeed she surrounds it as a chamber holding a melody.
About thirty-three years later, as His final Passover drew near, Jesus sat in the temple one day – where the blood of lambs, goats and bulls had been offered for centuries – across from the treasury, and He watched as people placed money donations into it. Suddenly, He saw that poor widow who put in her two meager “copper coins” (Mk 12:41-44). His heart went out to her….”he called his disciples to him”… and His words went out to His disciples.
Finally Gethsemane. Now His blood begins to trickle down – He begins the messy business of paying for our salvation…paying for Mercy, paying for forgiveness, paying for our stubbornness, selfishness and stupidity, paying for the love we throw back in God’s face. From Gethsemane and all through that night and the following day His blood slowly trickles down…now from thorns, now from scourging, now from the abrasive cross laid upon Him. This is the currency of our salvation! Now on the cross. Suddenly we see it – His Sacred Body is the Treasury, the Mint which has been long producing the Mystical Currency of God’s Love for us. See in the open palm of each hand a crimson coin. Two coins. He has taken them out of the Treasury of His broken Body and holds them out for us; two small reddened coins. Worthless to the world, priceless to the soul.
Fra Angelico. Christ on the Cross Adored by St. Dominic.detail c.1442
In a previous post on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton we mentioned that both she and St. Louise de Marillac had a devotion to Christ in the womb. (St. Elizabeth Seton formed her sisters in the Vincentian spirit according to the tradition of Louise de Marillac 1591-1660 and Vincent de Paul 1581-1660.) In that post, we highlighted some quotes from St. Elizabeth speaking of her devotion to Christ in the womb. In today’s post we would like to highlight St. Louise’s devotion.
In the book, Vincent de Paul and Louise de Marillac – Rules, Conferences and Writings, Vie Thorgren writes of St. Louise: ” They remind us of the importance of the hidden years of Jesus’ life-hidden within the womb and hidden in a village noted only for its insignificance. As early as 1626, Louise began a daily practice of meditation on Jesus within the womb receiving his flesh and blood, which became the means of our redemption. Recognizing the fruitfulness of this meditation, she offered it as an enduring legacy to the Daughters of Charity.”
In her Rule of Life in the world, St. Louise enumerates several devotional practices in honor of the Virgin Mary – one of these practices concerns Christ in the womb.
A quarter of an hour of prayer exactly at midday to honor the moment when the Incarnation of the Word took place in the womb of the Blessed Virgin.
In her own words, we learn from St. Louise herself, of a personal devotional practice she had honoring the unborn Christ Child. St. Louise drew up a little rosary. She wrote to St. Vincent: “This little chaplet is the devotion for which I asked permission of your Charity three years ago as a personal devotion. I have in a small box a quantity of these little chaplets, along with some thoughts on this devotion written on a piece of paper, which with your permission, I wish to leave to all our sisters after my death. Not one of them knows it. It honors the hidden life of Our Lord in his state of imprisonment in the womb of the Blessed Virgin and congratulates her on her happiness during those nine months. The three small beads hail her under her beautiful titles of Daughter of the Father, Mother of the Son, and Spouse of the Holy Spirit. That is the main thought behind the devotion. By the grace of God, unworthy as I am, I have continued this devotion since the time I mentioned, but I hope to discontinue it, aided by God’s same grace, if your Charity so orders. By means of this little exercise I intend to ask God, through the Incarnation of his Son and the prayers of the Blessed Virgin, for the purity necessary for the Company of the Sisters of Charity and for the steadfastness of this Company in keeping with his good pleasure.” Louise de Marillac, Spiritual Writings, L.303B
It seems that St. Vincent had agreed to this devotional practice three years earlier but at this point he asked her to discontinue it. Even though St. Louise continued to believe that this was a devotion that Our Lady wanted her to practice – in holy obedience to St. Vincent she discontinued it.
She alludes to this in a letter: “I feel that I must tell your Charity that I was and still am sorry at having to abandon those little prayers because I believe that the Blessed Virgin wanted me to render her this small tribute of gratitude. But with her, I console myself by offering my renunciation to her and by resolving to please her in some other way and to serve her with greater fervor….” Louise de Marillac, Spiritual Writings, L.304
The Trutzhain Madonna. As a ‘Mater gravida’ she is the ‘pregnant Madonna’ with the infant Jesus under her heart.
“Our ailing sight, since the fall, was not able to look upon God to read in Him our duty; the Son of God, in making Himself a little child, has given us a salve wherewith to anoint our eyes and so enable them to see the divine majesty in the humility of our flesh, in order that we might conform our life to His.”
From: Christian Spirituality by Pere P. Pourrat, p. 232. Published in 1922, Burns, Oates and Washbourne, ltd. (London)
Click here to see a beautiful video called The Secret, portraying life in the womb
“Like all unborn babies in the womb, Jesus was physically active in a secret way, but unlike other unborn babies, He was spiritually active: His redemptive activity had already begun. The tiny, young Unborn Jesus had accepted the normal limitations found by infants in the womb and made those same constraints His own. He, however, did not stop loving with a divine love because He was Incarnate ‑ to have done so would have contradicted His divine nature, and defied the very purpose of the Incarnation. St. Peter Julian Eymard wrote that: ‘This love inflamed His Heart from the first moment of His conception until His last breath and, since His resurrection, has not ceased nor will ever cease doing so.’ “
‘Maria Gravida’-Institute of St. Philip Neri in Berlin ( It is a reproduction of the original in Malta) Click here to see the original.
In his book entitled The Soul of Elizabeth Seton, Joseph I. Dirvin (Ignatius Press) writes that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton had a devotion to the motherhood of Mary and the hidden life of Jesus in his mother’s womb. Here are quotes from his book detailing her devotion:
“The saint shared her delighted contemplation of the love of Jesus and Mary as he lay hidden in her chaste womb with St. Louise de Marillac, foundress with St. Vincent de Paul of the Daughters of Charity, whose Rule and spirit Elizabeth had chosen for her own community and who like Elizabeth was a widow and mother. It was an established devotion of both, nurtured by their motherhood, as Elizabeth bore witness in a note to Brute perhaps at Christmastime: “Blessed, it would please your so kind heart to know that this week past or more, our Soul’s dear Baby has been much more present to me than the beloved babies of former days, when I carried and suckled them. He, the Jesus Babe, so unspeakably near and close, hugged by His poor, silently delighted wild one!” ” (pg. 84)
“The maternity that united the Virgin Mary with Elizabeth Seton is especially strong in an exquisite meditation for the feast of the Assumption. “Jesus nine months in Mary, feeding on her blood- Oh Mary! These nine months”. Elizabeth wrote in remembrance of a like joy she herself had known in carrying her children. Now she was savoring it again in transcendent communion with the divine motherhood.” (pg. 83)
“Elizabeth also pursued her mother’s intuitions of Mary with her Sisters. As an outline of a conference attests. “We honor her continually with Our Jesus.” she told them. “His nine months within her” – the thought inspired a fresh spate of spiritual insights – “what passed between them-she alone knowing Him. – there was indeed a time when Mary alone of all mankind knew that the Messiah had come – He her only tabernacle…Mary full of grace, Mother of Jesus! Oh we love and honor Our Jesus, when we love and honor her.” “ (pg. 84)
“…she did not hesitate to close one letter (to her daughter) with these exalted words: “My Rebecca, we will at last unite in His eternal praise, lost in Him, you and I, closer still than in the nine months so dear when, as I told you, I carried you in my bosom as He in Our Virgin Mother’s – than no more separation.” ” (pg. 120)
Filed under: Biblical Reflections, Incarnation, Mother of the Lord, Unborn Jesus
Nardo di Cione, 1346-m. 1365, Madonna del parto , Firenze, San Lorenzo: 1365
Our prior six posts* have considered the mystery of Mary’s contemplation and remembrance of all the significant events, revelations and Divine inspirations that occurred in her life, and in the lives of others nearby, during the course of her nine month pregnancy. With Christ alive just inches beneath her listening heart, she was the living echo of God’s abundant grace during those initial months of the Incarnation.
It fell upon her, that is, it was an integral part of her office as Mother to the Incarnate Word, to be exquisitely attentive to every event, revelation and inspiration concerning her Son during His entire life, but especially during the sacred months of her pregnancy while she was the only one in direct communion with Him.
Before the apostles had ever been chosen or an Apostles Creed had been formulated, she was the contemplative memory of the Church (as John Paul II would say). Before the great St. Paul was converted, Mary was pondering in her heart the deepest mysteries of Christ, and marveling at the Plan of Salvation as it was unfolding – first, within her body, as a softly lit light, and later as a glowing beacon for all of Israel to behold. She carried the church’s forming Creed in her heart while carrying humanity’s developing Unborn Redeemer within her womb.
With the birth of Christ came yet another cloudburst of inspired witnesses: the angels spoke to the shepherds and the shepherds came to worship and told Mary and Joseph what they had been told. Next, the three wise men from the East came and also shared their wisdom. At the Temple, holy Simeon and the prophetess Anna were inspired to speak of the Christ child. An angel appeared to Joseph to instruct him. As Mary and Joseph fled with their newborn Son, Christ now became a political problem and death for young children was the King’s answer to the problem of Christ.
We do not have time here to sift through all of these wondrous happenings in this “fourth trimester” – the months immediately following the Nativity – but the Holy Spirit was extremely active and gracious during this hallowed time as well.
*This 7th post concludes this series.
Statue de la Vierge enceinte, seul reste de cette L’abbaye des Allois (moniales bénédictines
This is our sixth post in a series exploring the Creed of Christian faith being revealed to Mary during her pregnancy, trimester by trimester, event by event. We now come to the third trimester. Lk 2:1-7 explains that Caesar has inadvertently determined the place for the Christ Child to be born. According to the census (enrollment) ordered by Caesar, Joseph would have to travel to Bethlehem to fulfill his obligation. Mary (and Unborn Jesus) would accompany him.
Micah the prophet had prophesied this eventuality (see Micah 5:2, Mt 2:4-6):
“And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will govern my people Israel.” Mt 2:6
Before hearing of the enrollment, Mary probably did not know for certain where her Son would be born. This news from Rome was like a piece of a puzzle, which enabled Mary to connect the dots and it is very possible she related the above text from Micah to her specific travel itinerary, and praised God. The verse not only identifies the place of the birth, but states that her Son will be “a ruler who will govern my people Israel”. Mary can now add this information to all of the prior information she had been receiving from angels (Gabriel and the angel of the Lord), remnant Saints (Elizabeth, Zechariah, Joseph) and the Holy Spirit. Now politicians and prophets are enlightening her concerning the Will of God and the mystery of the Incarnation.
It is worth noting also that during these nine months Mary clearly would have ascribed other Old Testament prophecies to her Son (and herself) and would have been thereby further enlightened. One example should suffice: “Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa 7:14). If nothing else, she could derive from this verse the fact that she as virgin Mother held a Messianic office and the prophets through the centuries were preparing the people for this great dawning of the Messianic Age.
The third trimester ends when the child leaves the womb and is born. So we still have another third trimester event to consider. Mary and Unborn Jesus, along with Joseph, were turned away at the Inn “because there was no place for them”. Here is a profound message for Mary about the difficulty and rejection in store for her Son. Like many of the prophets before Him, her son would no doubt meet with some rejection. (Mary may have even gone so far as to possibly relate the Messianic Psalm 22 to her Son even now, before He had even been born: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”; verse 1).
So they end up in a manger, in humility, and she senses the meekness of God’s Plan for her Son, even now before He is born. She intuitively senses here in this manger, the order of Creation, and perceives that her Son has come indeed to restore a proper order to all things; from the animal kingdom to the angelic realms. She will no longer be heavy with child, but her heart will remain full of Incarnation truths and mysteries, both lived and believed.
The Expectant Madonna with Saint Joseph, 15th century French, National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Collection
Artist . Brother Claude Lane, O.S.B Title The Dream of Joseph Location Mt. Angel Abbey, Oregon On one side Joseph is pictured as a traveler, his feet still in movement, and carrying a knapsack. The Angel is pictured on the other side.
We all know of Joseph’s dilemma. But when did this occur? Mary (and Unborn Jesus) probably returned to Nazareth after visiting Elizabeth (unborn/newborn John) and Zechariah, just as the second trimester of Mary’s pregnancy was getting underway. The first page of the New Testament presents this huge problem and holy solution: somehow Mary “was found to be with child” (Mt 1:19). An angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream:
“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins”.
Joseph does as the angel instructs him. And he tells Mary what he was told by God’s messenger. This is the pattern, each person drawn into the Messianic Mission shares his or her inspiration or spiritual experience with Mary (or she in fact witnesses it) and as John Paul II says “Mary is the contemplative “memory” of the Church…” Message for 77th World Mission Day #3. She cherishes the revealed information within her heart and memory. Let’s consider four points from the angel’s instruction.
“Son of David” – this is how the angel addresses Joseph. It is as if Joseph is given a “Messianic office” while he will faithfully do the will of God, parenting the true Son of God. Mary can see in this the supernatural dignity of Joseph’s role as adoptive father of her son. Her relationship with Joseph is solidified and they will act as a team, in harmony with God who is closely watching over their lives. Thirty years hence, Joseph’s son will be called by the same title on many occasions (Mt 9:27, 12:23, 21:9, Mk 10:48). This title then is shared between father and son; perhaps Mary sensed that this would be one of her son’s titles.
“Holy Spirit” – this reference to God is a New Testament term, and here it is on the very first page of the New Testament, revealed for the world to hear, by the angel of the Lord to Joseph. But the same term, “Holy Spirit”, had already been spoken to Mary in the same context, by Gabriel. For Mary this is not a coincidence, not even a mere confirmation, it is a holy revelation of the first order – it was fitting that it was revealed to Joseph not by human lips, but by the breath of an angel, commissioned to deliver the message for the glory of God and for the particular good of Mary and her Unborn Son. The angel’s words to Joseph were a sign for him, a sign for Mary and a timeless sign for the universal Church.
“Jesus” – we spoke earlier about this name. Mary sees here the intimate detail revealed to her alone thus far, now being shared by God with one other special person. The family of three is now complete, built up around this Name, this Person; “Jesus”.
“He will save his people from their sins” – finally, here is the reason for the Incarnation, the reason for this Messianic Mission! This is a supernatural remedy for the fallen condition of humanity. Adam and Eve’s misdeeds will be undone by this Savior. Mary is given a ringing proclamation to ponder, a motto for her life which will always give perspective to every event, every question, every hope. Mary can read between the lines here and see one word loud and clear: MERCY. Her Son, as Savior, will embody God’s Mercy.
The early Creed of Christianity, in its embryonic statement is taking shape within the heart of Mary, encounter by encounter, methodically, trimester by trimester. But one other sign came to Mary during this second trimester, not mentioned in the bible, but mentioned by every woman who has ever carried an unborn baby to term; the Unborn Son of God poked her, pushed at her, prodded her – with His hands, His feet, even His elbows – what did she think of that?
Mary and Elisabeth Meet Zachariah Lorenzo Salimbeni
Luke 1:56 tells us that Mary (and Unborn Jesus) stayed with Elizabeth (and unborn John) and Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah for three months. Most spiritual writers through the centuries have understood this to mean that Mary was present for John’s birth (and for the circumcision and naming of John eight days later). In fact, many believe that it was Mary who told Luke the details of these various events – or if not Mary directly, that Luke learned of them through a Marian tradition.
The priest Zechariah was the first representative of Israel to be informed of the immediate coming of the Messiah. See Lk 1:5-25. When Gabriel appeared to Zechariah he received but a lukewarm reception. Gabriel was not impressed and struck Zechariah silent, unable to speak. Nonetheless, Zechariah would have relayed the words and events in a written form to his wife Elizabeth and also to his guest and relative Mary (especially since Mary was the mother of the Messiah).
Mary would have been immensely interested in every word that Gabriel spoke. While most of the angelic message was actually about the son Elizabeth would bear, there were multiple references to the Lord (v. 15, 16, 17). Curiously, and in light of Gabriel’s next visit to a representative of Israel – that is, Mary in Nazareth – each of these references to “the Lord” could be understood also as references to Jesus. (Recall Elizabeth’s later comment when Mary arrived: “And why is this granted me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” v.43)
All of these references to “the Lord” revealed that there would be a period of preparation during which John would have a tremendous ministry to the people of Israel. One reason this is significant is because it indirectly predicts the early success of “Christianity” within Israel (for example on Pentecost and following). At any rate, this was an optimistic message from the angel about what was to come, albeit, within an indefinite time frame.
Not only was Gabriel’s message to Zechariah very optimistic, but Gabriel even described it in a telling phrase: “I was sent…to bring you this good news” (v. 19). This characterization by God’s messenger of what is coming, confirms in Mary’s mind that God’s Mercy is at work and is a wondrous force for good and blessing. But perhaps the most extraordinary aspect of Gabriel’s message was when he said of Elizabeth’s son: “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” (v. 15). This explains the mystery of John leaping for joy when the Unborn Christ approaches him and Mary greets Elizabeth. Would Mary remember that spectacular event more than thirty years later when she was in the Upper Room with the early Church on Pentecost Day when the Holy Spirit would fill each member of the Church? (see Acts 1:13-14, 2:1-4).
Finally after the baby’s birth, when Zechariah obediently names his son John – according to Gabriel’s instructions – Zechariah is now filled with the Holy Spirit and speaks! He proclaims what we now call the Benedictus (Lk 1:67-79). Zechariah points to the mystery of Salvation that is dawning upon Israel. He speaks of Christ as “a horn of salvation” raised up by God Most High. Mary is nearby with this “horn of salvation”, the Christ, growing within her womb (unbeknownst to the neighbors gathered around for the blessed ceremonies). Zechariah confirms that all of this is “as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old” – a phrase reminiscent of the Nicene Creed reference: “We believe in the Holy Spirit…He has spoken through the prophets”.
So once again, Mary is the recipient of all of this Divinely inspired information about the Messiah, His mission, the meaning of it, the supporting characters involved and so on. Mary’s heart is like a holy depository of sacred Messianic information. Mary – because God has called her to this function, as part of her “office” as the mother of “the Son of God” – is now the filter, the arbiter of the message of salvation, carrying it within her heart, to deliver at the appropriate time (while she carries the Christ within her, to be delivered after nine months).
UNBORN WORD of the day 