3 Len Tue Mar 25 Luke 1: 26-38 ANNUNCITATION Today we listen once more to the story of the Annunciation. It is a familiar story and the scene has been a subject of various works of art. You probably will recall that Mary at the Annunciation is almost always pictured as serenely praying and surrounded by light and ethereal joy. But there are other painters who see a different kind of picture. They paint for us a young girl troubled and uncomprehending. The painter Henry Ossawa Tanner, for instance, depicts in his painting of the Annuciation Mary seated at the edge of her disheveled bed. There is in her face a look of puzzlement and concern, and she is gazing toward a golden beam in the form of a cross. You can imagine the thoughts running through Mary’s mind as she sits a the edge of her bed after she heard Gabriel’s words. “How can this be for I know not man?” What will the village people in tiny Nazareth say? They know that she and Joseph are already betrothed but they are not yet living together. What will they say about her, what kinds of nasty looks will they cast her way when her precious child is born too soon? Gabriel, seeing that she is puzzled, tries to reassure her that everything will work out well. God will take care. But Gabriel’s reassurance is also filled with mystery: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be bornwill be called holy, the Son of God.”
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 13:51:36 +0000