SPEAKER_00 0:01

Alright, it's just starting now. Oh, this is a boom microphone. Oh, this is set up wrong. Oh yeah, they inverted it. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I used to I used to own one of these with my rock band. Oh, right, right. So this is what you how it's supposed to be set up. Okay. Alright, everybody, ready for the excitement? Okay, in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful, and kid on them the fire of your love. Send forth your spirit, and they shall be created, and thou shall renew the face of the earth. Let us pray. God struck the hearts of the faithful by the light of the Holy Spirit. Grant us the same Spirit to be truly wise, never to rejoice in his consolation through Christ our Lord. Amen. Our Lady Seat of Wisdom. Name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So it looks so that in your book is covering the enunciation and also the incarnation. So basically, we'll just take a walk through Luke chapter 1, you know, the and go over the Annunciation. So that's that's verses 26 through 36. There's a lot going on there that we could break down. So in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. So let's first start out with, okay, we have a virgin betrothed to a man. So Mary's betrothed to Joseph. So let's talk about first of all what that means. So in first century Judaism, there's a three-stage process for marriage. So, you know, what we have is a two-stage process, right? Where you have a dating stage, an engagement, then marriage, right? So what you would have in ancient Judaism would be, of course, the families would come together, right? There'd be kind of an arrangement sort of thing. And then a betrothal. Now the betrothal is the actual wedding vows. So when a woman is betrothed to a man in ancient Judaism, that's actually, they're committed to each other for life at that point. But there's a time between the betrothal and the coming together in the common home. So remember the wedding at Cana, right? So if we go, you know, in John's Gospel where they have the wedding reception that Jesus and the apostles are at, right? Likely that's the big party that happens when the bride is then presented to the to the husband at his home, and that's coming together in the common, the common home. So we're in this between stage. So Mary is already married to Joseph, but she has not yet been, you know, they haven't, she hasn't been brought to his home, you know, for the you know, for that stage of the marriage. So, because what's it's they at least to we know that she's already married basically at this point. So I guess is that does that make sense, right? All right. So also, as we know, right, we're gonna you can see Mary as the new Eve here. So what we're gonna see is a reversal of what happens in the garden. We'll talk about that. So, okay, so Joseph is of the house of David. This is very important, right? Because what is prophesied, right, in Isaiah, a shoot will sprout from the stump of Jesse, I believe it's Isaiah chapter 7. So we have you know fulfillment of prophecy right here, because we have Joseph. If we were talking about what should have happened, Joseph is actually the rightful heir as king of Israel. He would be actually, so it's interesting how the house of David has fallen to the point where they're no longer ruling. We know in the uh history of of Judah, right? So after Zedekiah was exiled, right, and then there was the exile in Babylon, right? Because the northern kingdom of Israel, the ten tribes were invaded in 722 by Assyria and dispersed. And then in Judah, right, the 586 BC, the Babylonians come in and destroy the temple and exile the people and bring them to Babylon. Later on, when the Persians rose to power and he conquered the Babylonians, Cyrus, the Persian king, would then permit the Jewish people to come back to the land of Judah. And there were two like governors of Davidic kingship, but then they sort of that that line falls away for whatever reason. So there's, and it could be because we don't know if there are any politics involved. We know that you know soon after the rise of Persia, as we know, then Alexander the Great comes through, and then all those Greek kings are set up. So then at this point, there's no possibility of Davidic kings coming back. So they're brought to this sort of lowly state. Um, so to the point where Joseph, the king of Israel, is a poor carpenter living in Nazareth. Okay. So, and then we have the angel Gabriel, right? So, as remember in the old in Genesis, right, a the devil shows up, right? The serpent. So we have an angel who shows up to Eve, right, and tempts Eve to disobey God. Now we have an opposite situation. We have an angel of the Lord, one of the archangels, coming to Mary, right, and calling her to obedience to God, to accept a vocation. It says, Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you. Now, this is very familiar to us. We pray this in the Hail Mary. The word for full of grace is cacaratomene, which could be translated as having already been favored or having already been graced. So this is a title that no woman has in all of the Bible. It's the highest title that any woman is given. And it indicates that something has happened prior to the arrival of the angel, that Mary is already in a state of favor or in a state of being graced. And so that is a hint or indication of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, that Mary, from the first moment of her existence, was preserved from original sin. Right? Just as you know, Eve and Adam, right, were in a state of, had the preternatural gifts, they were in union with God, right? They uh they were in friendship with God, they enjoyed that friendship, right? We see Mary, right, as the first stage in the reversal of what Adam and Eve did in the garden. So this is a very, so this is an indication. So the the grammar of the Greek word for full of grace, right, is an indication of a dogma, right, that Mary was preserved from original sin for the first moment of her being. So she was greatly troubled at the saying, considered what in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. So, of course, to contrast this with Zechariah, of course, Zechariah in the previous part of this chapter, remember he his wife is barren, Elizabeth is barren, and so he's kind of not happy with God, a little angry with God, but then he gets this great privilege of offering incense in the temple as one of Levitical priests. And then, of course, the angel shows up, and then he's kind of bitter and angry, and then he's struck dumb. So here, this is not a question of anger or anything, it's a question of just wanting to know what's going on. It's an inquisitive thing, right? She just wants to know what's going on, you know, just out of a sort of a healthy curiosity, we might say. The angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, if you found favor with God, will behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. He shall call his name Jesus. So Jesus or Yeshua is, you know, God saves or God is salvation. He will be great, he'll be called Son of the Most High. So he's going to be the Son of God. So we have a revelation here. We've just today is Trinity Sunday, we've done the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. So what's being revealed to Mary for the very first time is that there is not only a unity in God, that God is one, there is one divine nature, but there is a communion of life and love within that union, and there is a son of God. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his Father David. So this Jesus, this the Son of God who will be conceived in Mary, is for divine, right? So the divine Son of God. He will also be the son of David.

unknown 10:29

Right?

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Fulfilled, like, because remember in 2 Samuel 7, right? It was promised to David that the Davidic kingdom will have no end. We know that that kingdom was cut down, but we see now we have a sort of a form of resurrection in a sense of the Davidic line. So that now he will sit on the throne of David, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom will be no end. And this time there will not be an end of the kingdom, like what happened to Jeconiah and Zedekiah in the books of Kings, where Nebuchadnezzar comes through and exiles the kings and carries the people of Israel away, or Judah away. And Mary said to the angel, How will this be since I do not know man? So this is an interesting question, because uh many uh church fathers believe that sort of this is an indication, I think St. Augustine, I'm not sure, could be wrong. There's an indication that Mary had already vowed herself to God. So in Numbers, I believe it's Numbers 30, if I'm not mistaken, somewhere in Numbers, there is a provision for a woman to have a vow. And if she proclaims this vow in the presence of her father and he has no objection, then this vow is in place. And the same if she declares it to her husband. Because this question, you know, would be you know, of course, Mary would probably already know how human beings are made, right? So we get that, we we, you know, the kind of the birds and bees thing, right? How can this be? So why would she even ask this question? Because the presumption is she has already dedicated herself to God, she's already made a vow of perpetual virginity. She's made this vow in the presence of her father, and then later on, and maybe even in the presence of Saint Joseph. So see, even Saint Joseph is aware that this is the thing. Okay. So this is what she's inquiring about. So she's like, wait a minute, I made this vow. Well, how what's going on here? I you know, I've y dedicated myself to God, I'm I'm I'm all set here, you know, we were planning on this kind of thing, and then, oh, this is happening? Okay, so there's a natural curiosity here, given that she's vowed herself to God. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will shadow you, therefore the child will be called holy, the Son of God. So here we have revelation of the Spirit. So here we have we have God, we have God's Son, and we have the Holy Spirit. So we have embedded in the enunciation and revelation of the Trinity, which we're celebrating today in Holy Mass. So now the word overshadow is a very important word. If we recall, remember that when the Israelites were going through the desert, there was a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. And when the temple was dedicated, in remember in Jerusalem, the cloud comes down over into the temple. It's filled with the cloud, right? Which is an indication of God's presence. So also, I mentioned this in my homily. You go forward to the transfiguration, when Jesus is on the mountain with Peter, James, and John, and he's displaying his glory, revealing his glory to them, that the that the cloud descends upon them, right? That's called the Shechinah, that's the divine presence. So what is so what's happening is that Mary is becoming like the new ark of the covenant, or the new, like a like a um, that the holy presence will come upon her, right, the Holy Spirit, and conceive in her room the Son of God. Okay. So, and then she and then the angel Gabriel talks to Mary about her kinswoman Elizabeth, that she's conceived a son, in the sixth month where her was called Baron. For God nothing will be possible. Mary said, Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word, and the angel departed from her. So now we have, in opposite of Eve, we have consent to do God's will, right? To accept, right, God's will, to accept this vocation as the as the mother of the Savior, the mother of the Son of God and the new Davidic king. Right, so as Eve, you know, it was through Eve that sin enters the world, right, so that she can consented to eat the fruit that she was forbidden to eat because she was she was deceived, of course, by the serpents. Here we have the angel. We have an angel presenting to her her vocation, become the mother of the living, of course, Eve, because what kind of like the, is almost like the mother of you know the of sinful humanity, right? That's in a so what Mary is is that is in this role of conveying, right? She's now our mother and the mother of grace here because she'll become the mother of the Savior. So, of course, and what the book is talking about as well is now the doctrine of the incarnation, which is that, yes, the hope that Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary, and that Jesus took on our human flesh. Son of God takes on our human flesh. So that there is one divine person with two natures, divine and human, where there is a divine will, right, a divine intellect, and also a human will and a human intellect. So Jesus has a body and a soul united to the person of the second person of the Holy Trinity, right? So, so the so so he also so he has you know the divine will and intellect, also human will and human intellect coordinated into one, right, in the in the in in the body, right, of Jesus, one divine person. So, and this is why we call Mary, the Thaa Taukas, the God-bearer, called her the mother of God, by virtue of becoming the mother of Jesus, right? So if that makes sense. So that's where she, of course, that title of Thea Tokos or Mother of God or Godbearer is given to her at the Council of Ephesus in 431. And it was such a joy that the people of the council carried the bishops out, sort of like when Mike Ditke is carried away when the Bears won the Super Bowl, but that's another thing, right? I remember that. He and Buddy Ryan, but that's a that goes back to back back back in the old days. So um so anyway, and so there that that's a lot to take in there, just to kind of break down what's happening here and what's going on in the in the the books. We have a couple different way, we have the we have Mary as the new Eve, we have Mary as the new Ark of the Covenant, right? So, right here in this. And Luke actually continues as he goes in in the visitation, we see this new Ark of the Covenant theme continuing. Okay? All right, you have a question? Yeah. What are you asking about? Like what's well first of all, all right, uh I we would have to presume that, you know, when the angel appeared to her, that it would have been so manifest that this angel came from from God, right? So now Mary being preserved from original sin, right, would have had, of course, um a greater amount of spiritual gifts, right? So um so because of the fact that by being preserved from original sin, right, her her closeness to God would have been greater than than us. Because we our experience of uh, because our experience, of course, we even we're as baptized people, we still have concupiscence, right? So the purpose of baptism is you know of the Christian life is to allow the graces we receive to overcome the inclination to sin, so that as we grow in virtue and holiness, right, our inclination to overcome that is easier to do, right? So it's you know, so that people who've reached sort of a higher level of holiness, right? It's very easy for them to overcome temptation. You know, um we're still trying to, you know, we're we're we're all of us here are probably we're all still trying to you know put one step in front of another in that regard. But so Mary would have had probably a greater insight into what was she was experiencing, okay, and what's being presented to her, right? Because what's because first of all, um what's being presented to her you know has to be in accord with the with the moral law, right? Right? So she's a she's married already, right? But this is she's already given herself to God, and now God is you know asking her to do to be willing to consent to something so beautiful, right? Right. So um so I'm presuming that through the the gifts that she received as a consequence of the Immaculate Conception, the spiritual gifts she would receive, would be able to allow her to discern, you know, that the angel Gabriel was real the real deal. Okay? Because our experience, of course, is you know, still we still have you know we're we're through baptism cleansed of original sin, but we're still overcoming the concupiscence. Mary has no concupiscence whatsoever. She doesn't have that problem, she doesn't have an inclination to sin whatsoever. Okay. Um there's a um uh I'm trying to remember the title of the book, is a great book by Garujou Lagrange on the Blessed Virgin Mary. He was a uh Dominican priest. Um I think it's called Mother of the Savior. But he it's if you really want to dig into some tomistic uh minutiae about Mary, he's got all that for you. It's it's it's very difficult to. read it's because it's very he's he's very systematic in his treatment of of Mary and her spiritual gifts you know for example like she could have had the gift of prophecy for example she would have to read the scriptures and the because her mind right is it is is right she has she has spirit these spiritual gifts and enlightened her intellect okay that's a lot more yeah go ahead right yeah and and and there's a consent involved too so I guess not it's not it's not Mary's not doing it's not like oh you this is gonna happen you have no say about it you know yeah yeah in the inverse view that's why like advocates originally because they had you know computer knowledge and they had a lack of computer material gifts and well they understood yeah I mean yeah that's that makes a lot of sense yeah because they would have had uh more under it having the preternatural gifts yeah that that would that uh yeah that's that's correct I would say yeah okay yeah wasn't Mary also part of the line yeah I'm I believe so um I think there sometimes there are different different schools on that um but I think the because the Joseph is not adopted right but if you're adopted he can be adopted into the but because the the by being adopted by Joseph he then inherits the he inherits the the kingship from Joseph then so it's it's true it's through that adoption. So yeah I have to yeah there that yeah that's presumed but I yeah sometimes I have there's there's some people who some theologians I think um yeah it's likely she is yeah as a spiritual connection some sort of enlightenment what's that from from what enlightenment well it's from baptism so baptism right so by baptism washing away original sin and infusing the Holy Spirit right that that right that's what baptism does for the soul is right you so the virtues of faith hope and charity theological virtues are infused right and so therefore through baptism then we're in we're given you know the ability to overcome you know overcome temptations and you know a greater we have a greater ability to do that because we now have the aid of the Holy Spirit in in our life. So that that's why at baptism why there's a the paschal candle right because baptism is a is a you know a form of enlightenment right so all right I guess was the would and anybody understand the doctrine of the incarnation was that when I explained that does that make sense to everybody what what we're talking about okay because of course you know today the mystery of the Trinity is there's one divine nature and which is of course revealed by God throughout the Old Testament right to the right we what's hammered to the Old Testament is God is one. God is one God is one that's what again the course of salvation history that's the first thing God has to do is kind of beat it in the people of Israel. Don't be going after foreign gods like don't be don't be sacrificing to foreign gods. God is one God is one God is one. So with the revelation of the Son of God right then we understand the which revealed is this mystery of the Trinity right so that we have these the dynamism of divine persons in which within the nature this divine one divine nature there is a dynamism of a communion life and love between the that the Father and the son and with the bond of love being the Holy Spirit that's a the both of these things are mysteries right which I like to define a mystery as a truth that cannot be completely comprehended by the human intellect so you know you know you know for you know for example you know the Washington Capitals winning the Stanley Cup right that's a mystery you can't clean up anybody in just so just can't help that. Oh that happened right you know yeah it's a m I mean when you watch I mean hope hope you know had the magic you know a little sieve there or whatever right or you know that kind of thing. But I mean I'm just kidding about that we got this because that's something on human nature. But the idea of you know each human being is a mystery right in a sense right I mean like the that's the mystery of marriage right is the the the the couple i it as they journey through life are just still continuously discovering the mystery of the other person. Now I don't mean that in a negative sense okay you know so I don't want the married couples to go home you're a mystery to me. What? Well I do I don't know just you're a mystery and I like it you know that kind of thing but you know not not in a negative way but so but that's what so and and so when we we look at when we think about Mary's you know the Mary's role in salvation history I think we think of this as you know as her as the as the new Eve because we see the reverse of what's happening in in the garden okay a re a reversal of what's happening. So all right uh any other inquiring minds want to know okay yeah quick question on the mysteries the priests at the beginning of the Mass is let us prepare to celebrate the sacred mysteries are there official sacred mysteries or is the whole thing I believe in the Byzantine Catholic Church they call sacraments mysteries, right? So when we're talking about mystery it means we're talking about truths that of course we kind of fully comprehend. But really what we're talking we're because the primary purpose of Holy Mass is right to represent the Passion Death and resurrection of Christ through the ministry of a priest who's ordained and has this singular grace to be able to offer the sacrifice of the Mass to make present the Passion Death and Resurrection of Christ. So the mystery of that is what we're there to celebrate so so um so that's yeah that's that's what the why that's said at the beginning of Mass as part of the the the okay all right it's 1030 so I don't know if I have to any more any more theological questions regarding hopefully this you know I've done enough on the Annunciation that you um also uh can't you know you know has great notes the nation's Bible that was provided in the church has great notes and things like this so that's helpful um other books Hail Holy Queen from Scott Hahn is very good and also recommend Brand Petrie uh the the uh Jewish roots of Mary would be another another great work those so that that would be those would be very helpful sort of illuminating the place of Mary in in salvation history. Okay all right so let's pray in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit amen. We thank somebody God for the affections, resolutions, inspirations again this time of meeting we ask your help to put them into effect our Mac good Mother Saint Joseph our guardian angel intercede for us amen. Name of the Father and the Son Holy Spirit amen