Annunciation: The World is with Child

Acclaimed author Frederick Buechner describes works of art picturing the Annunciation:

AS THE ANCIENT prophecies foretold, it is a virgin who is to bear the holy child. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” the angel announces, “and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee.” It is not old Joseph but God who is the father. Paul, Mark, Matthew, the earliest writers about Jesus, say nothing of a virgin birth, but by the time Luke wrote his gospel, it had come to seem that nothing less wonderful could account for the wonders he was gospeling. This extraordinary life could have had a beginning no less extraordinary. History creates heroes. Heredity is responsible for human greatness. Evil also evolves. Only holiness happens.

Mary pondered these things in her heart, and countless generations have pondered them with her. She is sitting on a Gothic throne with her hands crossed at her breast and the book she has been reading open on her lap. The dove of the Holy Ghost hovers in the archway above her, and Gabriel kneels close by with a lily in his hand this time, the emblem of purity, chastity, kingship.

Again Mary’s head is bowed, and she looks up at him through her lashes. There is possibly the faintest trace of a skeptic’s smile on her lips. “How shall this be, seeing that I know not a man?” she asks, and the angel’s painted gaze turns her question back upon herself. The angel, the whole creation, even God himself, all hold their breath as they wait upon the answer of a girl.

“Be it unto me according to thy word,” she finally says, and jewels blossom like morning-glories on the arch above them. Everything has turned to gold. A golden girl. A golden angel. They are on their feet now. Their knees are bent to a glittering rhythm. Gabriel’s robe swings free about his ankles, and his scroll flies out from his waist like a sash. Mary’s hands are raised, palms forward, and Gabriel reaches out to take one of them. They are caught up together in a stately, golden dance. Their faces are grave. From a golden cloud between them and above, the Leader of the Dance looks on.

The announcement has been made and heard. The world is with child.

-Originally published in The Faces of Jesus

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“Life, Death and the Annunciation” essay by Hannah Coyne

The Feast of the Annunciation falls within the period of Lent. Hannah Coyne writes about the tension of death and life, the Fall and Redemption, in this famous painting by Fra Angelico.

image

Her full essay is at
http://blog.theamia.org/2015/03/25/life-death-and-the-annunciation/

Here are a few excerpts:

In the main part of the painting, we see Gabriel bending to tell Mary that she is indeed the “favored” one, the one imbued with grace. We can tell Mary is a pious woman, for she’s been interrupted doing her devotions, which she’s hastily set aside on her knee. In the top left of the painting, we see God’s hands sending down the Holy Spirit, represented by a golden beam of light and a dove. The shimmering beam heads straight for Mary’s heart, reminding me of Luke’s later observation that after the shepherds’ joyous visit to meet Jesus, the contemplative Mary “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

In the upper left hand corner of the painting, Fra Angelico makes an astute theological statement. He depicts a tearful and ashamed Adam and Eve being cast out of paradise by an equally sorrowful angel. Eve wrings her hands and Adam covers his face in shame. The garments God provided for the shame-filled couple are drab.

The gift of this painting and the grace of celebrating the Annunciation today in the midst of Lent is this: in Jesus Christ, trust and full communion with God is possible again, because of Jesus’ arrival on the scene. The shame of being cast out of the Garden of Eden is dispelled. Jesus is a new and better Adam, by whose passion and cross we can receive God’s grace into our hearts. As Paul writes, “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). The Prado’s description of this painting hits the nail on the head: the image simultaneously depicts “the damnation and salvation of Humanity.”

Read Hannah’s full essay at
http://blog.theamia.org/2015/03/25/life-death-and-the-annunciation/

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