Spring has come. Let us observe and ponder in awe. The gray skies give way to the blue. The days become longer, and the nights shorter. Light overcomes darkness. The denuded trees begin to bud and clothe themselves in foliage, and the earth opens to give up and share life. Upon its face, the flora of the earth explode in brilliant, diverse colors, as fragrances ascend, birds sing, and bees buzz, as the fauna skip, spring, and leap. Inertia gives way to motion. The ice melts, the streams flow, and the rivers rush. All is clean, fresh, and renewed. The earth once again teems with life in the Lenten Spring.

 

           From all this, and so much more, we are given signs from God's magnificent creation that light, regeneration, and life always conquer and reign supreme. The black curtain of the night is being drawn back. The light is stretching and rising from its slumber. The life of spring has overcome the death of winter. The butterfly emerges from its chrysalis.

 

In full, radiant color, we see in this Lenten Spring the promise of the eternal Light, the hope of the eternal Dawn, and the assurance of the Transfigured and Victorious Son of God Risen from the Dead. As in the Beginning, Holy Wisdom speaks through Its creation. We are given to see God's Divine Plan in the order, cycles, and seasons of His creation--the Divine Blueprint of the Now, in which we can divine a shining glimpse into the eternal future.

           In the middle of Great Lent, quite fittingly in spring, we celebrate the Great Feast of the Annunciation. Nine months from now, in the depths of the darkness when the nights reign over the days, we will celebrate the dawning of the Eternal Light in the Birth of the Son of God.

 

We were told this would happen. From the Gospel of Saint Luke, the Evangelist, we learned that the Archangel of the Lord, Gabriel, announced to the Virgin Mary that she would be with Child of the Holy Spirit. This is the Announcement (Annunciation) of the Good News of Eternal Salvation in Jesus Christ, the Son of God become the Son of Man.

 

           As It was announced, so It happened. How can this be? How can the laws of nature be overcome? What is impossible for man, is possible for God, for as the Creator of All, He is not confined to work within His own Divinely appointed laws. Being Unlimited, and everywhere present, He can work within, without, around, above, under, throughout, and about anything and everything.

 

God can reconcile any contradiction and synthesize any thesis and antithesis. As with the laws of nature, He is not confined to the dictates of logic, the rigors of gravity, or the conviction of mathematics. Quite simply, The Son of God, The Pre eternal Word, become the Son of Man is The Solution, the Reconciliation, and the Answer. 

           

           As the Son of God has no mother, but a Father, as to His Divinity, so the Son of Man has no father, but a mother, as to His Humanity. The First Man, Adam, strived to be God on his own and lost Paradise. The Second Man, Jesus Christ, became Man so that through Him, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, man can become God and gain Paradise.

 

The old Eve fell through the sin of pride; the New Eve is elevated though her humility, for she humbly, simply, and purely accepted God's Announcement through His Divine Messenger. She quietly assented and said, "So be it." Thus, a new creation is made possible now just as when at the beginning of creation God uttered: 'Let it be."

 

           Thus, we have a divine reconciliation and restoration which makes possible a new creation and a new beginning--in short, salvation has dawned upon the earth through this new mother. How so? This is a profound mystery made known only to the initiated Faithful in Christ. For in the Annunciation, we see God, The All-Holy Trinity, acting in concert with humanity. As the Father worked in concert and concord with the Son and the Holy Spirit in creation, so They work together for its recreation--its redemption.

 

           The Father sent the Holy Spirit upon the Virgin Maiden Mary; His Voice (His Will) was communicated to her through His Divine Herald, the Archangel Gabriel; through her free, obedient, and humble assent, the Holy Spirit accomplished the miraculous virginal conception; and the eternal Logos (the Word) and Son of God took flesh and blood in the Womb of the Virgin. The Three Persons of the Holy Trinity accomplished this cosmic and eternal transformation together freely, lovingly, in concert and harmony.

 

           However, this time there was so much more accomplished. The Incarnation was the union not only of the Divine Persons of the Holy Trinity; it was also the agreement and cooperation of God (The Trinity) with the humble Mary representing the highest and most pure offering of humanity, and through her, because of her unique relationship with her Son, the Son of Man, She is now the Mother of Humanity.

 

Thus, salvation has come to the cosmos through this New Eve. Whereas the Old Eve in pride ran and hid from the Voice of the Father, the New Eve humbly bowed and accepted His Will. Whereas once Man did not obey Gods' Will, and creation fell; now, through Mary's humble obedience, it is possible for Man and creation to be exalted and saved.

 

           Created in God's Image, Man is, therefore, free, for God is Free. With freedom comes great power and responsibility, along with its attendant accountability. From the beginning, God respects Man's freedom, for it is a divine seed implanted in him. God the Father wills the free acceptance and return of His Love, but He also takes the divine risk that His Love will not be returned.

 

However, if you take away our free will, then you take away the divine and eternal, and we become like the beasts of the earth over which we have been given sovereignty; but if you take away His Grace, then there is no means by which we are saved. God did not just create you; He sent His Only Begotten Son to suffer and die for you.

 

Therefore, He paid an Infinite Price for you, and you, therefore, are infinite in value. Your free will is correspondingly invaluable, and it is thus respected. You can choose like Adam and not fulfill the Will of the Father; or you can choose like the New Adam and fulfill the Will of the Father.

 

As the New Eve, the Virgin freely chose to accept the Will of the Father for her and creation. Due to the choice of the Virgin, we are given a new choice for eternal salvation. This one free choice of the Virgin made possible an infinite number of choices for salvation through her Son, the Christ. How powerful, indeed, is free will.

 

           We, therefore, must freely accept His Love (His Grace). God had given Adam everything, but Adam wanted everything immediately on his own terms without fellowship with God. He broke Communion with God and tragically Fell from fellowship to alienation, from Paradise to exile, from light to darkness, and from life to death.

 

As Adam did not; Mary did. Mary exercised her God-given free will properly in cooperation with God's Will for her and humanity. As Adam's free will had universal ramifications, so, too, with Mary's free will. Our freedom is powerful, indeed. This is why we must always pray, act humbly, and be obedient to God's Will for us through His Teachings and His Commandments.

 

After all, do we not say, over and over again, "Thy Will be done" in the Lord's Prayer." Even in the end, do we not chant for our beloved departed in the Lord, "Blessed are You O Lord, teach me Your Commandments."?

 

In the Womb, The Infinite Has Been Circumscribed, The Circle Has Been Squared.

           Clearly the humble Virgin has shown us the way by her supreme example. Through her humility, it is now possible for humanity to be exalted. Through her acceptance, her "gates" remained closed, but the Gates of Heaven are now opened. Through her womb, we are given a New Birth and a New Creation.

 

In her womb, the Son of God became the Son of Man, Creator and created were reconciled, visible and invisible married, and Heaven and earth were united. Through her womb, the Old Eve and the Old Adam have been restored, for she is the New Eve, and her Son is the New Adam.

 

The New Adam and the New Eve redeemed the Old Adam and New Eve when they freely obeyed the Will of God the Father. This obedience of our free will to the Will of God the Father, as the Perfect Man, Jesus, the Son of the Virgin, taught, lived, and fulfilled, is the eternal solution.

 

           This is Holy Wisdom, the Master Workman, Who once created at the Beginning of creation. Now again, at this New Creation, Wisdom has built Its House within Which to dwell--a new Holy Tabernacle not made by human hands this time, the Divinely Chosen Womb of the Virgin. This time, God acts with the free consent (not the disobedience) of humanity.

 

The joy of the Prophet Isaiah's vision of a Virgin being with Child and the pronouncement of the salvation of the world has been accomplished for those who accept it and see symbols of this earthly hope and heavenly promise in the beauty and splendor of this Lenten Spring.

 

           As the Archangel commands, let us rejoice. As Saint Paul exhorts, let us rejoice; and as the Prophet Isaiah did, let us spiritually dance for joy in the warm and transfiguring light of this Lenten Spring that points us to the Glorious Light of the Resurrection and the Eternal Spring to come for those who believe.

 

           I humbly remain, yours in the Promise of the Good News of eternal salvation in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, eternally and universally proclaimed, in this Great Feast,

                                                                                                                      †Father Jim