Yesterday we celebrated the Solemnity of the Annunciation. It was a poignant "foretaste" of Easter and also a good preparation for the coming Holy Week. This image is from the unique contemporary mosaic iconography of Mark Rupnik:
************************************************************************************************************************************
The profound Collect Prayer for the liturgy includes the mysteries of the Incarnation, grace that transformes and empowers our freedom, and our ultimate destiny to become "partakers of the divine nature." This is the Redemption that Christ will win for us on the Cross, conquering the darkness of sin and death:
O God, who willed that your Word
should take on the reality of human flesh
in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
grant, we pray,
that we, who confess our Redeemer to be God and man,
may merit to become partakers even in his divine nature.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
One of the options for today's Collect continues these themes, referring more explicitly to the events we are about to relive in the coming celebration of the Paschal Mystery. We cling to Jesus as our hope, asking for grace and expressing gratitude for God's gratuitous love from the depths of ourselves, following the way of Mary's "Yes" and relying on her intercession:
O God, who in this season
give your Church the grace
to imitate devoutly the Blessed Virgin Mary
in contemplating the Passion of Christ,
grant, we pray, through her intercession,
that we may cling more firmly each day
to your Only Begotten Son
and come at last to the fullness of his grace.
Who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
