Update Friday Third Week Advent 2013 The Annunciation and Fourth O Antiphon

Scripture readings for today's Mass are below.

Also, Click here for Fourth O Antiphon reflection.

Reading 1 Is 7:10-14

The LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
“I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!”
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.

Source

Responsorial Psalm PS 24:1-2, 3-4ab, 5-6

R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

The LORD’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.

R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

Who can ascend the mountain of the LORD?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.

R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

He shall receive a blessing from the LORD,
a reward from God his Saviour.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.

R. Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.

Annunciation by Brian Whelan Source

Gospel Lk 1:26-38

In the sixth month,

the angel Gabriel was sent from God

to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
 

Nazareth Image source

to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph,

of the house of David,

and the virgin’s name was Mary.

And coming to her, he said,

“Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”

A window at St. Marys’ Church in Willmar, Minnesota, depicting the Annunciation. (CNS photo from Crosiers)

But she was greatly troubled at what was said

and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Then the angel said to her,

“Do not be afraid, Mary,

for you have found favour with God.

Annunciation He Qi Source

Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

and you shall name him Jesus.

He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,

and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,

and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever,

and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”

But Mary said to the angel,

“How can this be,

since I have no relations with a man?”

One of a series of fractal images on Christmas copyright free from Richard Lyall From Here

And the angel said to her in reply,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.

Therefore the child to be born

will be called holy, the Son of God.

And behold, Elizabeth, your relative,

has also conceived a son in her old age,

and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;

for nothing will be impossible for God.”

Let There Be Light by John Marsh.......The sun shining through this stained glass window in the church of St Mary & St Nicholas, Spalding, UK Source

Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord.

May it be done to me according to your word.”
 Then the angel departed from her.

Fra Angelico Source

REFLECTIONS

Edwin Muir's beautiful poem on The Annunciation 

The angel and the girl are met,
Earth was the only meeting place,
For the embodied never yet
Travelled beyond the shore of space.
The eternal spirits in freedom go.

See, they have come together, see,
While the destroying minutes flow,
Each reflects the other’s face
Till heaven in hers and earth in his
Shine steady there. He’s come to her
From far beyond the farthest star,
Feathered through time. Immediacy
of strangest strangeness is the bliss
That from their limbs all movement takes.
Yet the increasing rapture brings
So great a wonder that it makes
Each feather tremble on his wings.

Outside the window footsteps fall
Into the ordinary day
And with the sun along the wall
Pursue their unreturning way
That was ordained in eternity.
Sound’s perpetual roundabout
Rolls its numbered octaves out
And hoarsely grinds its battered tune.

But through the endless afternoon
These neither speak nor movement make,
But stare into their deepening trance
As if their gaze would never break.

 Edwin Muir (1887–1959). 

My 2013 post on the Annunciation is here

My 2012 post on the Annunciation is here.

and another post from 2012 here. 

In 2011 the Fourth Sunday of Advent Gospel co-incided with the Annunciation so  please click here for reflection.

Fr. James Martin Video on The God Of Surprises here

 The traditional Basque carol " Gabriel’s Message," tells us of the archangel Gabriel's  famous visit to  Mary.