Mary's glory as a human person is that
she has been emptied of all that could interfere with God's presence and action
in her. Sadly, we human beings are often
so full of our false selves that we are
insensitive to the more subtle action of the divine Spirit of God working
within us and through others. God has
fashioned Mary, by the foreseen merits and grace of her Son's paschal mystery,
into the perfect human exemplar. Mary is
the perfect human person because she has co-operated in God's artistry in
perfecting her human capacity for God to the point where not only does God have
full reign to live within her spiritually, but even now, in the Annunciation,
to himself grow within her womb physically.
The divine Person of the Word becomes flesh in the womb of Mary and
begins to dwell among us as perfect man. Our redemption has begun. We pray that we to whom the Incarnation of
Christ was made known by the message of an angel, may, by his Passion and
Cross, be brought to the glory of his Resurrection.
Until that final Resurrection, we live
by the Bread of Eternal Life given to us in the Word of God and in the
Eucharist. At communion time we are,
like Mary, filled with the body and blood, soul and divinity of our
incarnate Lord Jesus Christ. May all of our
souls proclaim the greatness of the Lord in
our words and in our way of life.
Reflection by Father Luke. The Annunciation, Hans Memling (Netherlandish, Seligenstadt, active by
1465–died 1494 Bruges), 1465–75, oil on wood. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Used with permission.
