Hail Mary, Full of Grace

A brief update: I haven't felt as good for many months! I am on Day 13 of Cycle 20. I took myself off my medications for about a week. I have regained some appetite and food actually can be enjoyable! I have not gained much weight but I am good with my energy and I am back on the computer and driving a bit more. Praise God! After tomorrow it will be a new record, God willing! With lots of prayers, especially prayer to St. Jude - may Cycle 20 be the last!

In the hallway by the entrance of my home hangs this picture depicting the Annunciation:

 (Annunciazione Fra' Giovanni da Fiesole detto il Beato Angelico - Firenze, Museo di San Marco)

Today is the "Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord" - March 25, exactly 9 months before the birth of Jesus. The Gospel passage read during Mass was taken from Luke 1:26-38 - recounting the visit and announcement made by the Archangel Gabriel to Mary. It was very significant how Gabriel addressed Mary in Luke 1:28 (as recorded in the original Greek by Dr. Luke): "chairō charitoō ho kyrios meta sy" which is translated to Latin (Vulgate) "Ave gratia plena: Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus", and in English (the NRSVCE translation) "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you". So where is the "Hail Mary, Full of Grace" that I say every time I recite the "Hail Mary" prayer? Dr. Geraghty gave this answer from the EWTN.com site. Dr. David Anders (one of the best bible teachers I know, a convert from Calvinism to Catholicism) has this (at the 30 minute mark of the 1 hour video) to say about the common misconception of praying to Mary.

Father Ian gave a beautiful homily on this passage. He quoted someone's survey of bookstores - the most popular section is full of self-help books. These books all encouraged us to look within ourselves to find strength to deal with the anxiety of life. Instead, from this scripture passage, we find that Mary trusted the angel Gabriel and looked to God instead. "For nothing will be impossible with God.". This commentary by Karoline Lewis is very encouraging. She calls it "The Impossible Possibility of God". And I quote, "Any sermon on this text worth its weight will somehow create, expand, and eventually resolve, to a certain extent, and as much as is theologically possible, the tension between "How can this be" and "Let it be with me according to you word." It will move us from the absence of God (1:34), to the presence of God (1:35), to the fulfillment of the promises of God (1:36). To collapse "Here I am" too quickly into our idealistic notions of answering God's call reduces Mary to simply a pawn in some sort of divine play and further marginalizes her.
Somehow, someway, a sermon on this text will negotiate the radical transformation in only three short verses, from peasant girl to prophet, from Mary to mother of God, from to denial to discipleship. In a very real way, this is the appropriate transition from Advent to Christmas. Mary's story moves us all from who we think we are to what God has called us to be, from observant believer to confessing apostle. Moreover, remarkably, impossibly, Mary's story demands that we acknowledge the very transformation of God. It is no small journey to go from our comfortable perceptions of God to God in the manger, vulnerable, helpless, dependent. Yet, this is the promise of Christmas."

The Angelus

The first time I Heard this prayer was at the Canadian Martyr Church which had a 12:30pm Mass every Tuesday to Friday. It was a convenient place to worship before my afternoon work at the Convalescent Care Program at Shalom Village in the Westdale Village, Hamilton. Father Marcus always lead this prayer prior to opening the Mass. I have since then developed a habit of praying multiple times during the day by setting the alarm on my Apple watch to go off at:

• 10:02am (Luke 10:2 in combination with the highlighted country in Operation World)
• 11:55am (The Angelus)
• 3pm (Jesus said, ”It is Finished!” in John 19:30)
• 4:29pm (Ephesians 4:29)

I learned to put The Angelus prayer at 11:55am from Dr. Taylor Marshall, from whom I am learning the teachings of Thomas Aquinas through his “New Saint Thomas Institute”. The reason he prayed The Angelus at 11:55am is that according to this background history: "Although the Angelus has been traditionally said three times daily, at 6 am, noon and 6 pm, you can pray it at anytime! It is still accompanied by the ringing of a bell (the Angelus bell) in some places such as Vatican City and parts of Germany and Ireland."
 
In this 19th century work by the French painter Jean-Francois Millet, a farming couple prays the Angelus at dusk.

So this is the prayer and it’s (italic) Latin translation (also my way of learning Latin - directly via prayers and scriptures that I am familiar with):

The Angelus (Latin) https://youtu.be/ptyW-CWwY-I

V. The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary, (Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae.)

R. And she conceived of the Holy Spirit. (Et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.)

Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. *Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
(Ave Maria, gratia plena; Dominus tecum: benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui Iesus. * Sancta Maria, Mater Dei ora pro nobis peccatoribus, nunc et in hora mortis nostrae. Amen.)

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. (Ecce ancilla Domini,)

R. Be it done unto me according to Your Word. (Fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.)

Hail Mary, etc...

V. And the Word was made flesh, (Et Verbum caro factum est,)

R. And dwelt among us. (Et habitavit in nobis.)

Hail Mary, etc...

V. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. (Ora pro nobis, sancta Dei Genetrix,)

R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. (Ut digni efficiamur promissionibus Christi.)

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech You, O Lord,

Your Grace into our hearts;

that as we have known the incarnation of Christ,

your Son by the message of an angel,

so by His passion and cross

we may be brought to the glory of His Resurrection.

Through the same Christ, our Lord.
(Oremus. Gratiam tuam, quaesumus, Domine, mentibus nostris infunde; ut qui, Angelo nuntiante, Christi Filii tui incarnationem cognovimus, per passionem eius et crucem ad resurrectionis gloriam perducamur. Per eumdem Christum Dominum nostrum.)

Amen.

Jesus’ Teaching about Divorce - learning in Latin and Greek

Well it’s been a couple of weeks of learning Latin. I spent about 30 minutes to an hour a day, Monday to Friday, watching Visual Latin - learning mostly grammar and some vocabulary in Latin. Today I will try to use what I learned so far an important lesson from Jesus - in Latin! The passage in Matthew 19 concerning divorce also has a lot to say about the meaning of marriage itself. So here it goes...

Jesus was asked in Matthew 19:3 "Some Pharisees came to him, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”". 

Notice that they asked the question to “test him”. To answer this, Jesus first brought them back to what was foundational in understanding God’s intention for creating human - "in His own image" and "male and female" (Genesis 1:27). He then explained the biblical meaning of marriage (Matthew 19:5):

"For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?" ; 
which is translated into Latin: "Propter hoc (For this) dimittet (let go) homo patrem (a father), et matrem (and mother), et adhaerebit (cleaves) uxori suae (his wife), et erunt duo (the two) in carne una (one flesh)."


The translation is pretty straight forward except for the word "cleaves" which is "adhaerebit" in Latin; which according to the Latin Dictionary from Notre Dame can mean "adhere, stick, cling/cleave to; hang on; be attached/concerned/involved;". In the original Greek the word is 
"kollaō (κολλάω)" which is translated in the Strong's Bible Dictionary as "to glue, glue to, glue together, cement, fasten together; hence universally, to join or fasten firmly together; in the N. T. only the passive is found, with reflexive force, to join oneself to, cleave to;"

I think I am getting the picture! That's why Jesus further said in verse 6: "Since they are no longer two but one, let no one split apart what God has joined together.".

Marriage is meant to be permanent. That's why the Catholic Church makes it into a sacrament between two baptized Catholics. A sacrament is the "Outward signs of inward grace, instituted by Christ for our sanctification". For a marriage to succeed, we need Jesus' instilling grace into the lives of the married couple. Catholic.com has this to say about the Sacrament of Marriage.

I am thankful for my wife who lead me back to the Catholic Church!