The Gabriel window in St Chrysostom’s Church
The angel of the Lord appears to Mary, and she says ‘Yes’ to God. (Feast of the Annunciation March 25th)
The eternal Word of God, the Glory of God, becomes flesh in Mary’s womb. Mary receives Jesus Christ, the eternal Son Of God, within her. She shelters, nurtures and grows Christ in her living body. She clothes the Word of God with her own humanity.
God becomes flesh. Mary is the new temple, the holy of holies, she is the sanctuary of the living God.
Mary is not simply an instrument to give birth to God. In her will, her heart and in her body she assents to God’s design for herself and indeed for the human race. Today we have no doubt that the life in the womb and the first two years of life outside the womb are fundamental to the human being’s future. For Jesus Christ, Mary, his mother, is the formative human life and influence of his early years. She it is that loves, cares, nurtures and guides the infant who is God.
And so for Christians the eternal Word of God is intimately, genetically, emotionally, and fully made flesh in Mary, and she shapes his being in his childhood and so too his future.
For the Christian today too, called to say ‘Yes’ to God, after Mary’s example we are to receive the eternal Word, the Light of the World, into our lives fully.
Pray for us O Holy Mother of God, that we may be worthy of the promises of Christ!
Fr Ian
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