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Sunday's Gospel Lesson
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her. -Luke 1:26-38
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About This Week's Prompts for Meditation
let every heart prepare him room
-Isaac Watts, "Joy to the World"
Here's the very heart of it: ...that your Son at His coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself. This phrase comes from the collect for the 4th Sunday in Advent in The American Book of Common Prayer, which in turn comes from the 8th century Gelasian Sacramentary. Your heart is the womb, the inn, the resting place for the Christ. In his Father's house are many mansions, (John 14:2) where he will go to prepare for you, because your heart is already a mansion prepared for Christ to dwell.
Mary must say yes to this indwelling. Once the urgency is perceived, how can anything else be more important? Mary! Answer quickly (meditation one). But it is not only Mary who must respond to the angel's Ave. You and I are asked to conceive the Christ within us (meditation two). The soul is the dwelling place, the secret, hidden room, because "the kingdom of God is within you" (Lk 17:21) and "You are the temple of God" (2 Cor. 6:16) (meditation three).
And so, "Answer with a word, receive the word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal word." Amen.
-Breathe well,
Suzanne
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Meditation One (introit)
answer quickly
This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed salvation for all the children of Adam, the whole of your race. Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal word.
Bernard of Clairvaux 1090-1153
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| Annunciation with Peter Martyr, Fra Angelico |
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| Annunciation, Fra Angelico |
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Meditation Two (insight)
conceive the Child
Since Adam, being free to choose,
Chose to imagine he was free
To choose his own necessity,
Lost in his freedom, Man pursues
The shadow of his images:
Today the Unknown seeks the known;
What I am willed to ask, your own
Will has to answer; child, it lies
Within your power of choosing to
Conceive the Child who chooses you.
-W.H.Auden 1907-1973
quoted from An Advent Sourcebook
Liturgy Training Publications
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Meditation Three (integration)
you, yourself
Oh, then, soul, most beautiful among all creatures, so anxious to know the dwelling place of your Beloved so you may go in search of him and be united with him, now we are telling you that you yourself are his dwelling and his secret inner room and hiding place. There is reason for you to be elated and joyful in seeing that all your good and hope is so close as to be within you or better, that you cannot be without him. "Behold," exclaims the Bridegroom "the kingdom of God is within you" [Lk 17:21]. And his servant, the apostle St. Paul declares: "You are the temple of God" [2 Cor. 6:16]
-John of the Cross 1542-158
The Spiritual Canticle
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The Last Word
How can I explain the riches and treasures and delights found when the soul is united to God in prayer? Since in some way we can enjoy heaven on earth, be brave in begging the Lord to give us his grace in that he show us the way and strengthen the soul that it may dig until it finds this hidden treasure. The truth is that the treasure lies within our very selves.
-Teresa of Avila 1515-1582
The Interior Castle
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Miscellany
Salvation to all that will is nigh ;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo ! faithful Virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb ; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He'll wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son, and Brother ;
Whom thou conceivest, conceived ; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother,
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt'st in little room
Immensity, cloister'd in thy dear womb.
John Donne 1572-1631
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