V. The Feast of the Annunciation

" Creavit Dominus novum super terrain: fsemina circumdabit virum " (Jerem. xxxi. 22).

Out of that great and terrible wreck, in which human reason lost its chief possessions, and especially the Truth for which God had formed it, the mind of man has retained a vague and uneasy desire to recover some vestiges of that truth; and of this desire has been bom an almost incredible love of novelty, which appears in the world in various forms, and exercises minds of various kinds. Some, it merely impels to collect countless foreign curiosities; more energetic spirits are driven by the feeling to exhaust themselves in attempts to discover fresh walks in art, or in the management of business; whilst others, again, search nature for her hidden secrets from the same motive. In short, it may be asserted of this desire for " something new" that throughout the universe no feeling has a stronger hold on human nature, or is a more common incentive to all forms of activity. To cure this disease, God Himself sets before us in Scripture what we may call, in all reverence, holy novelties and profitable curiosities; and of this to-day's Mystery is a striking instance. The Prophet has drawn our attention to it as an extraordinary and astonishing " new thing," in the words of the text; and we are now to consider it. We must not, however, fail first to beg the help of Our Lord through His Mother by greeting her, on this day when it was first uttered, with Gabriel's salutation of Ave!

To find true lowliness even amongst men, amid the universal eagerness to be great in all people and at all times, is exceedingly rare. But if it is a spectacle that always strikes us afresh to see men remaining content with a naturally low station, it is a far more wonderfully new thing to see a God, stripping Himself of His supreme greatness, come down from the height of His throne and voluntarily annihilate Himself. Yet this is the marvel that the Church presents to our notice in the Mystery of the Word made Flesh, and which made the prophet say that " God hath created a new thing upon the earth," when He sent His Son there, humiliated and brought to nought.

Now, in this self-abasement of the God-man, there are two most extraordinary things to be noted. God is the Lord of lords, and cannot possibly behold anything above Him: God is alone in greatness, and can find none around to be His equals. Yet — O ever-new prodigy! — He Who has nothing above Hini becomes subject and gives Himself a Master; He Who is without an equal becomes man and gives Himself fellows. That Son, equal in Eternity to the Father, undertakes to become His Father's servant: that Son, raised infinitely above man, puts Himself on an equality with all men. Well, indeed, may the Prophet declare that the Creator has done anew thing: for never before has God had such a subject, or man such a companion. But in reflecting on this new wonder the second part of the text must be kept in mind: fcemina circumdabit virum. These words bring out Mary's part in this marvellous work; and we may truly express her share in it by saying that God the Son, in making Himself a subject, chose her as the Temple in which He would pay homage to the Father; and, in uniting Himself to men, made her the channel of His intercourse with them. Thus, she is associated with both sides of our subject: for Christ has honoured her by annihilating and subjecting Himself in her, and by communicating with man through her.

It is a surprising but indisputable truth that, amongst the infinite means that God possesses for establishing His glory, the most efficacious of all is necessarily joined to lowliness. He may reverse the whole order of nature, or display His power to mankind by countless fresh miracles; but, marvellous as it may appear, He can never show His greatness so plainly as when He stoops to humble Himself. Here is a thing which seems strange, indeed, and new! The thought may be difficult to grasp; but the mystery we are dealing with affords plain evidence of its truth. St. Thomas ^ has clearly proved that the greatest work of God was that of uniting Himself personally to the creature, as He did in the Incarnation; and it is not nearly well enough understood that, in the whole range of unlimited possibilities, omnipotence could have found nothing more noble to do than to give the world a God-man. " O Lord, Thy work! " the prophet says ^: — fearing not to assert that God can do nothing more wonderful.

But if it is His greatest work it is also, consequently, His greatest glory, for God is glorified only in His works: Icetabitur Dominus in operihus suis.^ Now, God could not work this stupendous miracle except by lowering Himself, according to St. Paul *: — " But debased Himself, taking the form of a servant ". We must, then, echo the Prophet's words, and acknowledge that God has wrought something fresh upon earth: — and what? He chose to carry His greatness to its very highest pitch, and for this He stooped: He chose to exhibit His glory in its most brilliant light, and for this He put on our weakness. He " dwelt amongst us, and we saw His glory ".^ His

^ Part, in., quaest. i., part. i. ^ Habac. iii. 2.

• Ps. ciii. 31. * Phil. ii. 7. ® John i. 14.

glory then showed greatest when it corresponded to the depth of His abasement.

It is not, however, merely as a "new thing," or an object of even holy curiosity, that I am dwelling on this subject. My great aim is to promote the love of that fundamental Christian virtue — humility; and this, by showing God's own love for it. He cannot possibly find humility in Himself, the height of His supremacy not allowing of His abasement as long as He remains in His own nature: He must always act as God' and hence always be great. Therefore, what He cannot find in Himself he seeks in a nature that is foreign to Him. Why should this infinitely abounding Nature be willing to borrow? That He may be enriched by humility^ which is what the Son of God came into this world to seek. He was made man in order that His Father might behold in His person a God subject to obedience.

That this was indeed His purpose we can see for ourselves, in Holy Scripture's words about the first thing He did on entering the world at His sacred Incarnation. St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, shows that the first act, the first thought, and the first movement in the will of the God-man, constituted an act of obedience. Here are the Apostle's words: — " Wherefore, when He cometh into the world ": — observe, "when He cometh": — ingrediens: — "He saith: sacrifice and oblation Thou wouldest not;... Holocausts for sin did not please Thee. Then said

I, behold I come ": and why? Because: " in the head of the book it is written of Me that I should do Thy will, O God".^ Here we are told in formal terms that the first act of the Son of God is one of submission and humility: Eccc venio, ut faciam, Deus, voluntatem tuant.

Looking further into the matter we shall find a second instance of His love for humility in that choice of the Blessed Virgin, above referred to, as the Temple wherein to offer His first vows of obedience to His heavenly Father. We shall see that the Word Who had so deeply abased and humbled Himself chose, on taking flesh, to inhabit only a dwelling that was prepared for Him by humility. Here, again, Scripture declares the fact; for what does it say of Mary's interview with the angel who announced the great miracle to her? It records only two sayings of hers; and, of these, one guards her chastity and the other expresses her deep humility. The beauty and significance of the first of these sayings has been dwelt upon in treating of Mary's Conception; ^ but her exquisite virginal purity did not suffice, alone, to prepare the Temple into which the Most High was to descend: something more was needed.

Gabriel replies to her doubt by declaring the marvel-lous privilege that is to be hers: " The Holy Ghost

1 Hebr. x. 5, 6, 7.

2 Vide Sermon i, on the " Grounds of Devotion ", shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee".^ And what follows? Certainly the most wonderful instance of humility and self-repression that the world has ever seen; for Mary is not for one moment carried away by either joy or elation at the mysterious dignity conferred upon her. She utters not one word beyond a simple enunciation of her submission to the Will of God. " Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to Thy word." ^ Then, at once, the Heavens are opened: — the Son of the Most High, begotten by Him from all Eternity, is conceived in the Virgin's Womb: — and this great miracle is possible because that Virgin's humility has made her capable of receiving " Him whom the Heavens cannot contain" — Immensity Itself.

With this truth before us, need we wonder if God seems far off from man, or slow to bestow His graces? For lowly hearts are hard to find on earth; and not even the sight of a God Who has taken on Him the form of a servant — who has actually made Himself nought for us — seems able to bring down our pride. Yet, if we would but learn to realise the extraordinary grandeur of God as shown in the utter abasement of the Incarnation, we should long to share in Mary's true glory by acknowledging the absolute nothingness whence we come, and bringing Him down into our hearts by our genuine humility.

But if Mary's deep lowliness, which makes her humble herself the more because of her great dignity, confers on her the glory of becoming the chosen habitation of her Maker in His own humiliation, it is still not her only greatness. God chooses her also as the means of giving Himself to man: a second "new thing" not less surprising than the first. Having considered the wonder of the voluntary subjection of a Supreme Ruler, we must now behold the One Sole and Incomparable Being taking to Himself companions and associating with men, which is to-day's Mystery. To understand this new marvel we must try to conceive a vivid idea of that perfect unity of God which makes Him infinite, incommunicable, and singular, in His whole being. He is the only Wise One, the only Blessed One; King of kings. Lord of lords; alone in His Majesty, inaccessible on His throne, to be compared with none in power. Man has no language strong enough fitly to express this unity; but some words of Tertullian's perhaps give as true an idea of it as is possible to human weakness. He calls God " the Supreme Great One ": Summum Magnum; but says that " He is supreme only because He surpasses every- " thing else; and thus, suffering naught that is His " equal, leaves so far behind all that might be com-

For the Feast of the Annunciation. yy

" pared to Him that He makes a solitude for Himself " out of His singular excellence "}

If this seems a strange way of speaking, it is because Tertullian, used to strong language, seeks for new terms by which to describe a quite unexampled greatness. What can be more majestic or grand than the solitude of God? We can only conceive of It as self-contained, hidden within Its own light, separated from all things by Its own immensity: unlike all human grandeur — in which there is always some weakness or a low side as well as a high one — being equally strong and inaccessible on all sides. What a marvellous sight, then, to see this solitary and Incomparable One come forth from His august loneliness to adopt companions; and these companions, sinful mortals: — for " nowhere doth " He take hold of angels ": ^ non angelos apprehendit. He did not stop short at the angels, though they may be called the beings nearest to Him. He strode as a giant: " leaping upon the mountains," ^ says Holy Writ: that is, passing by the angelic choirs. He sought out human nature — relegated by the mere fact of its mortality to the lowest rank in the universe, and which had added the estrangement of sin to inequality of condition: — laid hold of it, and united it to Himself, soul and body. He made Himself a flesh like unto

^ " Summum victoria sua constat. Atque ex defectione oemuli solitudinem quandam de singularitate praestantise suae possidens, unicum est." — Advers. Marcion, lib. i., n. 3.

2 Hebr. ii. 16. » Cant. ii. 8.

yS Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

ours. In short, God, who became man " that we also might have fellowship with Him," ^ treated with us as with His equals, on purpose that we might be able to treat with Him as with ouy equal: Kx cequo agebat Deus cum homine, ut homo agere ex cequo cum Deo posset? Well may we say: " For what other nation is there so great, or that hath Gods so nigh them, as our God is present to our petitions? " ^

Much more time might be given to considering this wondrous act of condescension, if the Mystery of today did not make it fitting to turn our attention specially to Mary's share in it. If the Incarnation bestows an enormous benefit on our human nature, what is not the Blessed Virgin's glory in being made the means of Christ's union with that nature? He enters this world through her, and makes her the link of His blessed fellowship with us. Further, having chosen her for such a ministry. He sends one of His highest angels as His spokesman to her, as if to ask her consent. The secret of this great mystery may be found in the Order of God's Decrees, as He Himself has revealed them to us.

Scripture, and the unanimous consent of all ages, teaches that in the adorable mystery of our redemption it had always been determined by Divine Providence to use for our salvation all that had been used for our ruin. The reasons for this are too long to be entered

^ John i. 3, 6. ^ Tertull., advers. Marcion, lib. ii., n. 27.

^ Deut. iv. 7.

upon here; it must be enough for me to say, in a word, that God chose to destroy our enemy by turning his plots back on his own head, and letting his own weapons — so to speak — be the undoing of him.

Hence, Faith teaches us that if we were lost through a man, we are also saved by one. Death reigns in Adam's race, and life is born of the same race; God uses as the remedy for our sin that very Death which was its punishment; the Tree both kills and cures us; and we see in the Holy Eucharist that a saving act of eating repairs the evil wrought by a rash act of the same kind. According to this wonderful dispensation, so clearly traceable throughout the work of our salvation, it is necessary that as both sexes took part in the ruin of our nature, both should concur in its deliverance. Tertullian taught this in the earliest centuries, in the book on The Flesh of Jesus Christ Speaking of the Blessed Virgin, he says that " what had been lost by this sex must be restored by the same sex ".^ St. Irenaeus the Martyr ^ said the same before him, and St. Augustine ^ after him; and all the holy Fathers have agreed in teaching the same doctrine. Therefore the conclusion is clear that it was undoubtedly fitting for God to predestine a new Eve as well as a new Adam; so as to bestow upon earth, in place of the old condemned race, a new posterity to be sanctified by grace.

^ De Cam. Ckr., n. 17. ^ Contr. Hares., lib. v., cap. xix., p. 316. ' De Symb. ad Catech., Serm. iii., cap. iv., torn, vi., col. 571.

8o Devotion to the Blessed Virgin.

And certainly, if we ponder in our heart the unsearchable decrees of Providence concerning the rehabilitation of our nature, and carefully compare Eve with Mary, this old and sacred doctrine will come out with convincing clearness. I will but shortly quote here the words used by the Fathers in showing the correspondence between them.

The work of our corruption began in Eve, the work of our restoration in Mary; the word of Death was carried to Eve, the word of Life to Mary; Eve was still a virgin, and Mary is a virgin; Eve, whilst yet a virgin, had her spouse, and the " Virgin of virgins " has also hers. A curse was pronounced on Eve, a blessing on Mary: — Benedicta tu} An angel of darkness accosts Eve, an angel of light speaks to Mary. The angel of darkness offers to raise Eve to false greatness, by making her aim at divinity: — " You shall be," he declares, " as Gods "} The angel of light places Mary in a state of true greatness by a holy union with God: — "The Lord is with thee," Gabriel says to her.^ The angel of darkness, speaking to Eve, inspires her with a plan of rebellion: — "Why hath God commanded you that you should not eat of every tree of Paradise? " ^ The angel of light, speaking to Mary, persuades her to obedience: — " Fear not, Mary ": and " no word shall be impossible with God ".^ Eve believed the serpent, and Mary the angel. " Thus," says

^ Luke i. 42. 2 Gen. iii. 5. * Luke i. 28.

• Gen. iii. i. ' Luke i. 30, 37.

Tertullian/ " an act of devout faith blotted out a fault of rash credulity, and Mary repaired, by believing in God, what Eve had destroyed by believing in the devil."

Then, to complete the mystery, Eve — seduced by the evil one — is compelled to flee before the face of God; whilst Mary — taught by the angel — is made worthy to bear her God. Eve having presented us with the fruit of death, Mary presents us with the fruit of life, in order — says St. Irenaeus ^ — " that the Virgin Mary might be the advocate of the virgin Eve".^

So exact a correspondence is no mere invention of the human intellect. It makes one unable to doubt that Mary is the most blessed Eve of the new Covenant, having the same share in our salvation that Eve had in our destruction — that is, the share next to that of Jesus Christ: — Mother of all the living, as Eve was of all mortals. The wonderful order of God's own designs — the fittingness of things so clearly set forth — the necessary connection of all His mysteries with each other — alike convince us of its positive truth.

And yet the brethren who have left us cannot bear us to believe that Mary is, after Jesus Christ, the prin-

^ De Came Christi, n. 17. ^ Cont. HcBres., lib. v., cap. xix., p. 316.

^ These comparisons of Mary with Eve, and the language of the Fathers on the subject, is gone into very fully in chapter x. of Dr. Ullathorne's book, cited in Note on Conception Sermon. Perhaps the whole doctrine could hardly be more fully and tersely expresse4 than by the rhyme of an old English mystery play: — "Man for Man, Tree for Tree, Maid for Maid — so shall it be | "

cipal co-operator in our salvation! What, then, will they do if they destroy this connection between the mysteries of God? How will they account for His sending His angel to her? Surely, He could have done His work in her without gaining her consent, if it had not clearly been in the Counsel of the Father that she should co-operate in our salvation and her Son's Incarnation, by her obedience and charity? Is it likely, either, that when her motherly love was so much concerned in our happiness through the Mystery of the Incarnation, that love should have now become barren, and ceased working for us?

If there are any here present who have broken with us, let me ask them whether they have left the Communion within which their fathers lived and died in the Love of Christ, because they hold us guilty of a crime for begging the help of Mary? If so, we can only reply that the whole Church Catholic will never cease to say: Ad te clamamus, exules filii Hevae! for she who has been pronounced, by the earliest doctrine of the Fathers, to be the advocate of Eve herself, must certainly always remain the helper of Eve's posterity: — Advocata nostra; and from her who was appointed to counteract the poison of that deadly fruit given to us by our first Mother, we shall always continue to ask and to receive the fruit of life: — " The blessed fruit of her womb ": — Jesus, Who through her has become our brother and fellow-man as well as our God, that from Him we may learn to live divinely.