Lenten Meditations: Monday 25 March

Mar 25, 2019 by Jill

THIRD MONDAY OF LENT – The Feast of the Annunciation of our Lord to Blessed Mary

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: The story of the announcement of the coming of God made flesh in the person of his Son, Jesus the Christ, the Anointed One, is heard in today’s proclamation of the good news from the gospel of Luke. The feast marks the conception of Christ in the womb of Mary and has been celebrated in the Church at least since the late fourth century. The perfect humanity and the complete divinity of Jesus is affirmed, following the controversies around those orthodox assertions, which themselves led to the acknowledgement of Mary – Theotokos, God-bearer, which in the West became translated as Mother of God. The celebration thus took on strong associations with the person of Mary and became known in England as Lady Day. In recent years, the Church has re-affirmed the day as a Feast of our Lord, on which his virgin- mother has a unique place of honor and veneration.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY: The Scriptures for the Eucharist today juxtapose two figures living into a similar theme. By virtue of having been anointed King, Ahaz was obliged to listen to the will of God as it comes through the prophets and signs of the times – but he rejects the opportunity to know what it is that God is planning.  In a mode of false humility, he says he will not “tempt the Lord” by asking for a sign from God.  Mary, a young Jewish girl doesn’t ask for a sign or proof but rather says be it done according to thy holy will.

This festival reminds us that the message of God’s does indeed come although for most of us does not seem to come with angelic appearances. God’s will cannot be impossible for us to hear if God wants us, in freedom, to fulfill it.  So, in this current age it should be said that it will be available to us in a way that we can grasp and understand – but it must be like Mary, namely with attentiveness and humility.

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE: “If anyone does not agree that holy Mary is Mother of God, he is at odds with the Godhead”.”- St Gregory Nazianzus

Lenten Discipline – Prayer beads are traditionally used to keep count of the repetitions of prayers, chants or devotions. Many religious traditions such as Anglican, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox employ them in their spiritual devotions because the beads can be fingered in an automatic manner, they allow one to keep track of how many prayers have been said with a minimal amount of conscious effort, which in turn allows greater attention to be paid to the prayers themselves. Perhaps learning about and using the Marian Rosary found in the Roman Church would be a good option today or learning of the Anglican Rosary or prayer beads and making that part of one’s prayer life would be a fine discipline. Two excellent places to go to are The Solitaries of DeKoven www.solitariesofdekoven.org  or http://www.innerlightcentral.com

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