Today, March 25, the Catholic Church recalls in its liturgy the moment when the angel Saint Gabriel announced the Incarnation of the Word to Our Lady.
Newsroom (25/03/2022 15:00, Gaudium Press) When announcing the Incarnation of the Word to the Virgin Mary, the Angel St. Gabriel said, “Hail, full of grace.” St. Bernard, explaining these words, says that “the grace of divinity is in her womb, the grace of charity in her heart, the grace of affability in her mouth, the grace of mercy and generosity in her hands.”
And he adds that “She is truly full of grace, for from her fullness all captives receive redemption; the sick, healing; the sorrowful, consolation; sinners, forgiveness; the righteous, grace; the angels, joy; finally, the whole Trinity, glory; the Son of man, human nature.”
“The Lord is with you”
St. Bernard explains that these words mean “with you is the Lord as Father, who begot the One you conceived, as Holy Spirit, from whom you conceived, as Son, who clothed himself in your flesh. Blessed among women means: “above all women, for you shall be a mother and a virgin, and the mother of God.”
The angel added: “the Lord is with you” for four reasons, which from Heaven shone on her person, again according to St. Bernard: the sanctification of Mary, the angelic greeting, the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Incarnation of the Son of God.
“Blessed among all women”
She also said, “Blessed among women” for four other privileges that, according to St. Bernard, shone in her flesh: queen of virgins (absolute virginity), fecundity without corruption, pregnancy without discomfort, and labor without pain.
Women were subject to a triple curse: that of dishonor, that of curse, and that of torture. The curse of dishonor affected those who did not conceive, and so Rachel said: “The Lord has brought me out of the reproach in which I have been”; the curse of sin affected those who did conceive, and so the psalm says that “I was conceived in iniquity”; the curse of torture afflicted those in childbirth, as it says in Genesis: “you will bear children with pain”.
Only the Virgin Mary is blessed among all women, because her virginity is united to fecundity, her fecundity to holiness in conception, and her holiness to joy in childbirth. She is full of grace, so St. Bernard says, for four reasons that shone in her spirit: the devotion of humility, the respect for modesty, the greatness of faith and the martyrdom of her heart.
Our Lady’s Confusion
“On hearing such words from the angel, she was troubled, and reflected on the meaning of that greeting.” Upon hearing the compliment, the Virgin pondered over it; affected in her modesty, she was silent; touched in her modesty, she prudently pondered what that greeting meant.
She was disturbed by the angel’s words, not by his apparition, because the Blessed Virgin had often seen angels, yet she had never heard them speak like that. Peter of Ravenna commented, “the angel was of sweet appearance but of impressive words, hence she saw him with joy and heard him with apprehension.”
According to St. Bernard, “the disturbance she felt was the result of her virginal modesty, and if she was not further disturbed it was due to the strength of soul, which led her to be silent and reflective, giving proof of prudence and discretion.”
“Fear not, Mary, you have found grace with the Lord”
And then the angel reassured her, saying: “do not fear, Mary, you have found grace with the Lord”. St. Bernard comments, “you have found grace with God, the peace of men, the destruction of death, the repair of life.”
“Behold, you will conceive and give birth to a child whom you will call Jesus, that is, Savior, for He will save the people from their sins. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.” St. Bernard says that “this means that he who is great like God will also be great man, great doctor, great prophet.”
Difference between Mary’s and Zacharias’ doubts
Then Mary asked the angel, “How will this be possible, if I know no man?”, that is, if I do not propose to know? She was a virgin of spirit, of flesh and of intention. Yet Mary questions; now, he who questions has doubt. Why then was she not, like Zacharias, punished by mute? In this regard Peter of Ravenna gives four reasons:
He who knows sinners considers not only their words, but the depths of their hearts, judges not what they said, but what they felt. The cause that led them to question was different, and what they expected was not the same. Mary believed what went against nature, Zacharias doubted for nature. She wanted to know how things would happen, he denied that the things God wanted to do were possible. He, although there were previous examples, had no faith; she, without such examples, had it. She was amazed that a virgin would give birth, he disputed conception. Therefore she does not doubt the fact, but only inquires about its mode and circumstances, because as there are three modes of conception – the natural, the spiritual and the marvelous – she wonders under which of them she would conceive.
Christ was conceived of the Holy Spirit
And the angel answered, “the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and He Himself will cause you to conceive.” Christ is said to have been conceived of the Holy Spirit for four reasons:
1. To show that it is through ineffable divine charity that the Word of God became flesh, as John says: “God so loved the world that He gave it His only Son.” This explanation is given to us by the Master of the Sentences.
2. To show that it was a grace granted without any merit on the part of men. This reason is given by St. Augustine.
3. To show that it was by the power and work of the Holy Spirit that He was conceived. This explanation is given by Ambrose.
4. Hugo of St. Victor says that the reason for natural conception is the love of the husband for his wife, and of the wife for her husband: “the same thing happened to the Virgin, for the love she had for the Holy Spirit burned singularly in her heart, while the love of the Holy Spirit for her worked wonders in her body.
“And the virtue of the Most High will cover you with his shadow”
According to the Glosa, this means that the shadow is naturally formed by a body placed in the way of light, and since the Virgin, by her human nature, could not receive the fullness of divinity, “the virtue of the Most High shall cover thee with his shadow” means that in her the incorporeal light of divinity assumed the humanity of the body in order that God might suffer. St. Bernard seems to accept this explanation when he says: “Since God is spirit and since we are indeed the body of his shadow, he came among us so that through the vivified flesh we might see the Word in the flesh, the sun in the cloud, the light in the lamp, the candle in the candlestick.” St. Bernard, still commenting on the same passage, states:
It is as if the angel said that the manner in which you will conceive Christ of the Holy Spirit will be hidden by the shadow of God’s power in his most secret asylum, so that it will be known only to Him and to you. It is as if the angel said, “Why do you ask me what you will know from experience? You will know, you will know, happily you will know, but through Him who will be both your teacher and your author. I was sent to announce the virginal conception, not to create it.” That phrase may also indicate that he will cover her with his shadow, that is, extinguish the ardor of vice.
“Behold, your cousin Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age”
The angel said this to tell her that great news had occurred in the neighborhood. According to St. Bernard, Elizabeth’s conception was announced to Mary for four reasons. The first, to increase her joy; the second, to perfect her knowledge; the third, to improve her doctrine; the fourth, to enable her mercy.
About all this, St. Jerome said: The pregnancy of the barren cousin was announced to Mary so that one miracle added to another miracle would add joy to another joy. Or else, because it was convenient that the Virgin knew by the mouth of an angel, and not by the mouth of a man, the news that was to be spread everywhere, so that the mother of God would not be kept away from the things of her son, would not remain in ignorance of events so close.
Or again, because knowing of the coming of both the Savior and the Precursor, knowing the timing and chain of events, she could later reveal the truth to writers and preachers of the gospel. Or, finally, so that knowing her elderly cousin’s pregnancy, the young woman could help her, and allow the little prophet John to pay homage to the Lord, an even more admirable miracle occurring.
“Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word”
Then Mary, stretching out her hands and raising her eyes to heaven, said: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, let it be done to me according to your word. St. Bernard explains: “It is said that some received the Word of God in the ear, others in the mouth, others in the hand. As for Mary, she received it in her ear through the angelic greeting, in her heart through faith, in her mouth through confession, in her hand through touch, in her womb through the Incarnation, in her womb through sustenance, in her arms through the offering.”
“May it be done to me according to your word.” St. Bernard continues, “May it be done in me not as an empty, declamatory word, nor as an allegory, nor as an imaginary dream, but as a silent inspiration, an incarnate personality dwelling bodily in my bowels. Immediately the Son of God was conceived in her womb as perfect God, perfect man, and from the first day of his conception he had the same wisdom and power as when he reached the age of thirty.
“Then Mary departed and went to the house of Elizabeth in the mountains, and on hearing her greeting John [the Baptist] trembled in his mother’s womb.” The gospel says that since he could not do so with his tongue, he demonstrated by movement his joy and thus began his function as Precursor. She helped her cousin for three months, until the birth of St. John [the Baptist], whom she raised with her hands, as we read in the Book of the Just. Throughout the ages God always performs on this day a great number of wonders. (EPC)
Compiled by Camille Mittermeier
