Feast of the Annunciation

My dear friends,

In honor of today's feast of the Annunciation, I just wanted to share a quote from my favorite book on Mary, a book I was first given when I was at the Carmelite Monastery: 'Woman Wrapped in Silence' by John Lynch. I love this book so much because the author exquisitely captures both the sublime reality of Mary as Mother of God, while at the same time showing that from day to day, she lived life in all its simplicity and routine as we did. What elevated everything Mary did was not the grandness of her occupations, but rather her heart, which was constantly in union with God and actively fulfilling His will. Reading this book makes Mary feel so close and relatable, and encourages one to imitate Mary, who was once a woman on this earth just like us.

I cannot recommend this book enough - I hope you love this excerpt as much as I do 🤍 I'd love to hear in the comments below which was your favorite line!

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“God’s way with men has been to take men’s way,

And that’s the glory and the scandal both

O, not the thunders and the lifted gates

He chose, and not exotic retinue…

But briefest pausing in the pulse of life,

With all our old simplicities unmarred,

With no rejections of the flesh we bear,

The hearts we love with, and the pain we know.

He slept our sleep, and with us dreamed our dreams.

“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee:

Blessed art thou among women.”

Within the light, the mercies of the Three

Were offered unto her: Who made all power,

Paused, and suppliant, was powerless . . .

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.”

Not, “Yes,” replied: not, “Yes, for all the tribes

And all the worlds await.” But secretly,

Uneager, prideless, unafraid, the brightness

Flamed to greater radiance, and then…

“Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to thy word.”

This is fulfillment, and upreaching hands

May now be folded, and the long desires

May now be eased.

And yet the quiet here

Retains no trace of great archangel wings,

And now that all the words are said,

They leave no trail of echo after them.

Dust is floating undisturbed,

And from a distance comes the muffled noise

Of moving wheels and sound of daily things.

A moment came and passed, and in the passing left

A young girl here who was not now alone.

This was not she who lifted up her head,

And yet it was, and crowded days that stretch

Beyond will still be bound for her in sun

And in the dark.

Her steps will fall upon the dust and leave an imprint there,

And tasks will weary her.

Dedicate, and now so utterly bequeathed,

Her strengths are yet her strengths.

This is God’s chosen way with men,

To take men’s way: and so the streets she walks

And all the roads, the shepherds and the shepherds’

Sheep, the winds, the firelight, Israel’s hills,

Will find just this, no more, a woman plain

Upon the earth, and in her arms, a Child.”