Have you seen this painting before? I hope you have, if only because it's a beautiful painting. I'm not sure that everyone knows the story of the painting though. It's obvious that what we have in the picture is a man and woman praying in the midst of their work early in the morning. Notice the church steeple on the horizon. Millet, the artist, titled this painting The Angelus. If you're not familiar with this prayer, it is one that has a rich history in the Catholic tradition. It used to be that every day at 6 a.m., noon, and 6 p.m. the bells of the local church would ring, and everyone, no matter where they were or what they were doing, would pray the Angelus. It was a moment to recollect and enter into a place of prayer in the midst of the labors of the day.
But why the Angelus? What was so significant about this prayer?
The Angelus is the prayer of the Annunciation to Mary and the Incarnation of Jesus. It goes like this:
Leader: The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary
All: And she conceived of/by the Holy Spirit.
Hail Mary....
Leader: Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
All: Be it done unto me according to thy word.
Hail Mary....
Leader: And the word was made flesh,
All: (bowing or genuflecting) And dwelt among us.
Hail Mary....
Leader: Let us pray.
All: Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the Incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
That this prayer was given such prominence in the daily Christian life in days past speaks a great deal to the significance of the mystery at its center: the mystery of the Incarnation of Jesus, the mystery of the Son of God becoming a man by being conceived, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of Mary. The Incarnation of Jesus is one of the most beautiful and central mysteries of the Catholic faith. While it is more often the Paschal Mystery (the Death and Resurrection of Jesus) that are emphasized, we must not forget that it was the Incarnation that made this greatest sacrifice possible. But what is the Incarnation?
It's not uncommon that people will confused the Immaculate Conception with the Incarnation. So let's make that distinction first. The Immaculate Conception refers to the birth of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, and how she was redeemed by Christ ahead of time so that she was conceived without sin in order to be the pure Ark of the New Covenant.
The Incarnation, as was mentioned before, refers to the moment when Christ was conceived in Mary's virgin womb by the power of the Holy Spirit. Of course, Jesus was also conceived without sin because He is God. But it was fitting that God would redeem Mary before the Incarnation and from the moment of her conception, since fallen humanity begets fallen humanity due to the original sin of Adam and Eve which damaged our human nature. But, furthermore, because Mary was free from original sin and its effects, she was able to make the most free choice to be the Mother of God because she was uninhibited by any characteristics of fallen human nature. She was as free to say "yes" to God's plan as Adam and Eve were to say "no" to it before the fall. God could have done this another way if He had chosen to, since He certainly has the power to do so. But, as St. Thomas Aquinas would say, the way that God chose to become man was fitting.
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| Fra Angelico's Annunciation |
But why does it matter? It's a sweet, sentimental idea, right? Jesus becomes a little baby and we celebrate it every Christmas with a kind of nostalgic aura. But to leave the Mystery of the Incarnation at that is to reduce its beauty and power to something much less than the Mystery is by its very nature.
Bishop Robert Barron, when he was still Father Robert Barron, made the connection or Jesus' Incarnation as related in the Gospel of Luke is meant to be like a military narrative of sorts. This is why he begins his Gospel with details about how this event took place in such-and-such year, under the reign of Emperor Tiberius. It seems like he's setting up a story of military conquest. Yet, is the Gospel at all about Emperor Tiberius? No. The story transitions immediately into the narrative of Jesus Christ. What Luke is doing is communicating that Jesus Christ is greater and more glorious than the Roman Emperor, though he has no earthly kingdom or armies, and He died upon a Cross like a common criminal. Christ, who comes as a helpless infant, who is born in a stable, who is welcomed into the world by only Mary and Joseph and a few shepherds, is worth our attention far more than any leader that history would call "great."
What is accomplished by this great mystery? Our salvation begins here. At the conception of Jesus in the womb of Mary, the hope we await has come incredibly close. He is in Mary's womb for 9 months, and then He is born into the world on a night like any other, yet so unlike any other because God-become-man is being born! This plan has been hidden from demons, and theologians speculate that the angels did not know it either until it had happened. Such a message of hope:
I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people.
Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, Who is Christ the Lord.
He is here! The salvation of the world has come! The uncrossable void between God and man that was created by the first sin has been bridged by the one who would leave the glory of heaven and be born as a helpless infant. He becomes like us in all things by sin; He empties Himself to such a degree in order that we might be rescued from our sinful state. Only the God-man can achieve this. Why? Because man could not obtain forgiveness for Himself; it had to be offered to Him by God. But atonement for the sin was still necessary, and so God became a man in order to be the perfect sacrifice: He is human, so He can offer a sacrifice on behalf of all of humanity; He is God, so He can offer forgiveness to humanity through this sacrifice, and His sacrifice reaches through all of history because the infinite God offers it.
What I would like to dwell on for a moment is the great humility of God that is revealed in the Incarnation.
When we think of the humility of God, or even Google images of it, we think of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, or His ultimate sacrifice on the Cross.
It is not so often that we think of this moment of His Incarnation and entry into the world as a tremendous expression of the humility of God.
Ecce humilitatem Dei.
Behold the humility of God.
It is this mystery that makes the redemption possible. Had God not become incarnate, we would not be saved. He became a tiny, helpless infant, totally reliant on St. Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary to care for Him. He became vulnerable to such a degree as this. Yet He was still seen as a threat, and so Herod sought His life. But Joseph, guardian of the Holy Family, protected the Son of God and His Mother, as was the task given to him by God. How beautiful! (There will probably be a post on St. Joseph eventually. He is one of my favorite saints.)
How amazing the experiences Mary and Joseph had with the Christ child must have been.
Think about how this little baby, God become man, would wrap His tiny fingers, which fashioned the stars, around the finger of Joseph or Mary.
How the Word which spoke creation into being humbled Himself to the point of not knowing how to speak, and blessed the chatter of babes by becoming one.
How the King of kings and Lord of lords was born in the most humble stable, and blessed the tiny dwelling of a few animals with His presence.
How He was born in a mange in order to show that He would be the food for the world.
How He was adored by simple shepherds to show that He came for all: from the lowest of men to the highest of kings.
Here is the mystery that begins the Paschal Mystery, the source of our Redemption. That we might be redeemed, this first took place, and the Son of God became like us in all things but sin, and was born of a woman. His birth was not stately. He came as one Who could be approached, approached without fear but with wonder nonetheless.
O Holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Savior's birth,
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of old, the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious dawn.
Fall on your knees!
O hear the angel voices!
O night, divine!
O night, when Christ was born.
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| Caravaggio's Adoration of the Shepherds |
There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
~Isaiah 11:1~
The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The sucking child shall play over the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
~Isaiah 11:6-8~
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.
~Isaiah 9:6~
Who has believed what we have heard? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
~Isaiah 53:1-2~
And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called "Wonderful Counselor, Might God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.
~Isaiah 9:6-7~
"And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
~Luke 2:12~
Once again, I find myself in awe of this great mystery. May I not live my life the same way as before in light of this knowledge of the mystery of the Incarnation.
Until we meet again,
Pace e bene!
the Itinerant Catechist
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