The earliest English text on the Annunciation was by the Venerable Bede, and to celebrate today’s Feast of the Annunciation, let us spend some time in his company, meditating on this great event which truly changed history. The text in bold is the Magnificat, the commentary by Bede himself:
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
The Lord has exalted me by a gift so great, so unheard of, that language is useless to describe it, and the depths of love in my heart can scarcely grasp it. I offer then all the powers of my soul in praise and thanksgiving. As I contemplate his greatness, which knows no limits, I joyfully surrender my whole life, my senses, my judgment, for my spirit rejoices in the eternal Godhead of that Jesus, that Saviour, whom I have conceived in this world of time.
The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
Mary looks back to the beginning of her song, where she said: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. Only that soul for whom the Lord in His love does great things can proclaim his greatness with fitting praise and encourage those who share her desire and purpose, saying: Join with me in proclaiming the greatness of the Lord; let us extol His name together.
Those who know the Lord, yet refuse to proclaim His greatness and sanctify His name to the limit of their power, will be called least in the kingdom of Heaven. His name is called holy because in the sublimity of his unique power He surpasses every creature and is far removed from all that He has made.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel, for He has remembered His promise of mercy.
In a beautiful phrase Mary calls Israel the servant of the Lord. The Lord came to his aid to save him. Israel is an obedient and humble servant, in the words of Hosea: Israel was a servant, and I loved him.
Those who refuse to be humble cannot be saved. They cannot say with the prophet: See, God comes to my aid; the Lord is the helper of my soul. But anyone who makes himself humble like a little child is greater in the kingdom of Heaven.
The promise He made to our fathers, to Abraham and his children for ever.
This does not refer to the physical descendants of Abraham, but to his spiritual children. These are his descendants, sprung not from the flesh only, but who, whether circumcised or not, have followed him in faith. Circumcised as he was, Abraham believed, and this was credited to him as an act of righteousness.
The coming of the Saviour was promised to Abraham and to his descendants forever. These are the children of promise, to whom it is said: If you belong to Christ, then you are descendants of Abraham, heirs in accordance with the promise
Thus wrote Bede more than 1400 years ago. How sad, then, that now there are some who claim the name of Christian who make the claim that Mary had no choice but to accept God’s fiat. What image of God do such people possess? It is that akin to the old gods of Greece and Rome who impregnated human women with out their consent. It is not, perhaps, then, so strange that they should fail to perceive this massive beam in their own eye whilst claiming with great shrillness that our veneration of Mary is a form of goddess worship. Christianity began with Mary’s ‘yes’ and through her heroic virtue, the Christ became incarnate and the miracle of our salvation was begun. On this day, holy to our ancestors, we celebrate, with a ‘great crowd of witnesses’ the actions of Our Lady and pray, through her, to God, that His will be done here on earth, as it is in heaven.
https://richardnye.info/annunciation.html
All Along the Watchtower 
Today we commemorate the acceptance by Our Lady of the proposal that she become the Mother of Our Saviour. We presume that the Word became fresh in the same instant as Our Lady gave her consent since it was whole-hearted “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to thy word” was her forthright reply to the angel’s message. The whole of human history was changed in the blink of an eye thanks to the maiden’s reply.
Her kinswoman Elizabeth had conceived in her old age and that conception was also foretold by an angel to Elizabeth’s husband. He expressed doubts that such a thing could happen and was struck dumb on the spot by the angel for his insolence. He nevertheless went home and had relations with his wife and the holy hermit John the Baptist was conceived as a result.
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“The Word became flesh”
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And from William Herebert, via our friend A Clerk of Oxford
Then said the angel bright, “Mary, dread thou not.
Thou hast found grace before God.
Lo, in thee conceive thou shalt and a son bear,
Whom thou shalt ‘Jesu’ name, that in English is ‘healer.’
Who shall be great, and named ‘worth,’ ‘the Son of the most high,’
And our Lord shall give him a high place to dwell:
His own father’s seat, David, and he shall be reigning
In Jacob’s house forever without ending,
And his kingdom shall be everlasting.”
http://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2017/03/our-ladys-lay.html
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The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
He has come to the help of His servant Israel, for He has remembered His promise of mercy.
Mary’s ‘yes’ and through her heroic virtue
The first two sentences im having trouble finding. And as for Marys heroic virtue….she had no choice. being a good jew, we suppose, and loving her Lord, she took it in stride. These religious pictures of Mary with a crown and holding the infant Jesus with a crown on him, are misleading. It leads the infirm of mind to think that Mary knew everything from the beginning and even orchestrated things. Fact is, Mary didn’t know what to think. She reprimanded Jesus for staying behind and teaching in some church. if she was all knowing, as the Roman State run religion says, she should have known better.
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Can we get something straight Bosco? Are you calling God a rapist? If so, then you are welcome to your odd god.
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Oh geeze, not the rapist thing again.
Ok, ill make my wager again………If anyone can show me where Gabriel asked Marys permission to have the child….ill apologize and join the catholic church and disappear from this blog. It seems that those who used to regularly call for my head on a platter have deserted this site. So it probably is of no consequence to anyone of my promise to leave. So, given that, I will narrow the bet. Good brother Chalcedon, show me where Gabe asked Marys permission. If you cant, I want a public apology and for you to leave and never come back (;-D (like that’s gonna happen)
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Not very good at logic are you? Either God raped Mary or she consented. Looking forward to you stopping wriggling and giving a straight answer.
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I answered below.
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No, you wriggled, as every liar wriggles. Is there a way between forcing a woman and her consenting. The fact you can’t answer shows you are lying – but then your father was a liar, the father of all lies – Satan. You don’t see it do you? You do satan’s work here whilst thinking the Holy Spirit inspires you; when was the fruit of the Spirit a pornographic website?
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How about a straight answer from you good brother, or from and Mary worshiper. Wher does Gabriel ask Marys permission? Simple request. I mean, its all important to you Marys. You must have it underlined or highlighted in all of your bibles. Just give me the verse, and ill go away.
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The straight answer is there are only two alternatives – God rapes Mary or she consents. I read the passage as her consenting – how do you read it?
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I don’t see Gabe asker her permission. As hard as I try, I don’t see it. I see him telling her she WILL conceive. Poor good brother Chalcedon, he has the task of fleshing out the CCs Maryology, and anything else the stoneage fathers came up with.
Why don’t you just drop out of that religion, that way you don’t have to embarrass yourself by saying black is white and white is black?
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Logic Bosco, stop wriggling. There are only two possibilities – which is it? Of course, again, if you could read Greek you’d see it – but poor old love, you hardly manage English – still, with your monoglot abilities and poor education, you know more than the Church which canonised the Bible.
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Eh, you forgot to show me where Gabe asked Marys permission. Be a dear and help me out. Thanks in advance.
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She says ‘be it done to me according to thy will’ – which is a long way of saying ‘yes’ – I thought even your stunts intelligence might grasp that.
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Nevermind, I found those verses. I forget that Mary said them. Mary was actually under the spell of the holy ghost when she said all that. It was god talking, not Mary. That should be obvious, even to hellbound devotees of false religions.
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Mary says ‘yes’ to God, but she speaks in whole sentences’ which may be too much for you.
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Sorry, are you really saying the Holy Ghost cast a spell on Mary? What sort of pagan nonsense is this.
Stop, think, man. You are saying the Holy Ghost cast a spell on Mary so she would consent to bear Jesus? Not even the worst pagans have thought up such a horrible story. You claim to be inspired by Jesus, but the more you write, the clearer it is who inspires you Bosco. Go and get yourself exorcised – you worry me, you really do,
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Let me be clearer. The speech mary gave was god talking thru Mary. She accepted the infant of her own free will. Rather, she accepted the fact that she was going to have the child. Would you tell an angel, Gabriel of all angels, to get lost?
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So she was a puppet. Odd god you believe in – a rapist, a puppet master – you are really a pagan aren’t you? The god you worship is.
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“was struck dumb on the spot by the angel for his insolence”
Spoken by good sister Annie, who I suppose is a cathol. Well, cathols harbor many more falsehoods than that, and more dangerous I might add. I used to think,because some one told me, that Jesus was just another guy. But good sister Annie fancies herself as a bible scholar. So when she makes false statements like the one above, one has to remember that her religion has kept her from reading the scriptures. If she read the she would know good sisters Elizs hubby was struck dumb as a sign, not as punishment. Its not a crime being unsaved. But it is a crime during judgment. hell Is open for business.
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Dear Bosco, I learned much of the Gospel at my mother’s knee and expect to spend the rest of my existence learning what the Lord’s will and pleasure is. Zechariah was dumb for nine months and wasn’t able to speak until his son was born and then, along with confirming what the child was to be called, gave a great soliloquy in praise of God’s doings. I ascribed emotion to the angel Gabriel in striking Zechariah dumb which may not have arisen. Our Lady was informed of Elizabeth’s pregnancy by the same angel so it was certainly a sign to her that nothing was impossible for God.
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5 and did not know her till she had brought forth her firstborn Son
There goes the virgin fable.
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Poor old Bosco: try these then:
2 Samuel 6:23: And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to (until) the day of her death. (Does this mean she had children after she died?)
1 Timothy 4:13: Until I come, attend to the public reading of scripture, to preaching, to teaching. (Does this mean Timothy should stop teaching after Paul comes?)
1 Corinthians 15:25: For he (Christ) must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (Does this mean Christ’s reign will end? By no means! Luke 1:33 says, “he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”)
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That’s nice. Wonderful verses you brought up. How does that affect Mary and her husband? Yes, I know you say the bible is allegory, and that Jesus brothers and sisters weren’t his brothers and sisters.
Say, if the bible is all allegory, then there was no Jesus and he didn’t die on the cross and the Israelites didn’t pass thru the red sea.
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You say the word ’till’ means there was an end date, I quote a set of verses which show that it need not mean that. Hard to argue with an idiot. Can you not actually think or read? No one is saying it is an allegory. you do know the Bible was not written in English don’t you? All the verses you quote with such confidence were written in greek and numerous translations are possible. Goodness me, Bosco, you are so dense that they could name a material out of you.
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Uh oh, I got you. Lets look at what you said, shall we?
I quote a set of verses which show that it need not mean that.
“it need not mean that” ……….that committal. That’s saying “maybe” it not mean that. That means that “maybe” it just might mean that. You don’t want to commit because by committing you are adding to scripture something that isn’t there. Most biochem and other science text books use the word maybe and probably when talking about evolution. then they continue on as if that “maybe” was a fact. You are doing the same. I don’t blame you or slight you. You are just being a good cathol. But be aware, I catch these things and wont let you get away with shabby reasoning.
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“No one is saying it is an allegory”
How many times have you told me that the bible is allegory? 1,000,000 times….2,000,000 times? I haven’t kept count.
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And yet, not knowing what the word means you keep misusing it.
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31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.
Ill make this easy for any papist who believe all the Mariology.
By the way, Eliz husband was struck dumb because he believed not, and it was a sign. It was a sign to the people. God really didn’t care if the guy believed him or not.
Anyway, Gabriel flat out told good sister mary she was to have this child. The Roman State run religion, whos job it is to throw stumbling blocks befor the people, have set up a female deity surrounded by fables. None of them are to be found in scripture. But that’s not why you will wake up in hell.
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Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you
I guess in the Roman State religion, this verse reads as follows…….Mary, is it Ok if the Holy Spirit comes over you and gives you a baby? (;-D
Cathols are duty bound to believe what their religion teaches, no matter how unbiblical it is. Yes, and that will contribute to your trip to hell. The religious have their dead humans that will save them. No need to ask jesus into their hearts. The world has many reasons not to ask Jesus to come to them. A female deity in just one….but it seems to be a big one, and at that, it is disguised as Christianity.
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Good brother Chalcedon says the NT was written in greek and that’s why Mary didn’t have children. because the scriptures were in greek. That’s why anything I, Bosco the Immacluate say is wrong, because the original was in greek. Sometimes I am convinced that good brother Chalcedon is a Vatican planted Bot.
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No, but unlike you I read Greek and Latin. You hardly manage English.
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“Does a mother forget her children or a woman, the child within her womb?”
Many believe that Our Lady has been allowed many times by God to visit us, her children on earth and encourage us in our struggles here. Today she is said to have appeared in Medjugorje and given this message for the whole world
Dear children! In this time of grace, I am calling all of you to open your hearts to God’s mercy, to begin a new life through prayer, penance and a decision for holiness. This time of spring moves you to a new life, to a renewal, in your thoughts and hearts. Therefore, little children, I am with you to help you to say ‘yes’ to God and to God’s commandments with resoluteness. You are not alone; I am with you through the grace which the Most High gives me for you and your descendants. Thank you for having responded to my call.”
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No problem Mary, youre welcome.
Except mary isn’t my mother. Shes dead according to the ways of the world. She lives with Christ in paradise with all the others who died in Christ. there is an impassable gulf between them and us. Don’t get fooled with fables.
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“Nothing is impossible with God” We are responsible for what we do with our free will, God invites us as He did Our Lady to take our parts in the work of salvation. Some rise to it better than others. Poor Judas Iscariot stumbled and fell. May we learn from him never to despair of our sins but to allow the Lord help us overcome them. The lives of the saints show us how stumbling blocks can become stepping stones.
Here is the testimony of one sinless soul who is praying for us now before the Lord
http://www.spiritdaily.com/littlejacinta.htm
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