Solemnity Of The Annunciation Of The Lord

Isaiah7:10-14,8:10
Luke1:26-38

IN MARY, GOD GAVE US HIS SON AS A GIFT TO SAVE US FROM ETERNAL SHAME

The early history of God’s creation was a brilliant conception of the Divine Mind: pure spirits, angels, disembodied intelligence unhindered by space or time.; stunning creation, and yet it was spoiled. The angels fell. Lucifer, one of the most dazzling of the angelic hierarchy, led a rebellion and many of the angelic creation joined up. There was war in heaven and the rebellious faction was disinherited and expelled forever.

In the second phase of creation was an even bolder design. This time, humanity was produced using both flesh and spirit, the two building blocks of creation that had never before been combined. A body of flesh animated by an immortal spiritual soul. Mankind fell from grace, and that original sin has disfigured the world ever since; wilful pride daubed and slashed his portrait. The result? A pathetic caricature of the original design. The hybrid remained, but the spirit was now wholly subject to the flesh. The soul no longer shaped the clay. The clay was disordered and dangerously out of control.

Creation groaned in travail as it waited for redemption and restoration. The dawn of that longed-for restoration came in the shape of a new design, a reversal of the earlier failure from the creation’s choice. That new beginning took the shape of a human being who was to be the prototype, the genesis, of a new human race, the gateway through which salvation was to enter the world. That gateway, that threshold, that genesis, was and is, the Blessed Virgin Mary.

In her, a new era dawned. She who was to be Mother of the Saviour was given the privilege of embodying a double yet integral perfection. Both flesh and spirit were to be untainted by any kind of sin, original or actual. Angelic purity and human perfection were combined in a new masterpiece. Nothing less than perfection was good enough for her who was to be Mother of the Redeemer. This new portrait was dazzling, and nothing could ever spoil it. This at last was a suitable pattern on which the rest of mankind could be remodelled.

By her Son’s redeeming merits, Mary was the first of the new creation. Conceived without original sin, she was morally perfect. The theological and human virtues could grow in her soul without any of the restrictions imposed by a fallen nature. In her immaculate soul the fruits of Christ’s Passion could blossom and ripen unhindered.  In her the mortal flesh would be the servant of the immortal soul. In her the human will would never, for one instant, depart from the will of God. In her the failure of the original design for humanity was reversed.  Mankind could become what it was meant to be.  

Our Blessed Lady was not less than human, nor more than human. We should say rather that she was fully human. She was no less redeemed than the rest of us. The difference was that in her, redemption met with no resistance. Being fully human, God’s plans were given full co-operation. There was nothing in body or soul to impede the flowering of grace, and that flowering of grace could have only one end result, the end to which the whole human race is called, the ultimate destiny of all who are re-created in Christ. One single word describes that destiny: resurrection.

How open am I to God’s life within me even when God seems to ask the impossible do we still believe it is possible? Do you believe God can make you great? Do you still believe the action of the Holy Spirit to work in you. The Word was made flesh and dwells among us because may gave her entire will to God. We are God’s masterpiece and with him all things are possible. I am the handmaid of the Lord.May it be done to me according to your word.”

Fr Joseph Osho