Loosing the Knot of Human Sin: Mary’s Yes to God
Posted: March 25, 2018 Filed under: Etcetera | Tags: Galatians 4: 4 In the fulness of time..., Luke 1: 38 "May it be done to me according to your word!", Mary and the Archangel Gabriel, Mary as Theotokos, Mary's obedience undoes Eve's disobedience, Mary's yes to God begins salvation, The Feast of the Annunciation Leave a comment
Fishing can be a wonderful past-time. It can also be frustrating. Though getting “skunked” presents its disappointment, nothing is more frustrating than the inexplicable, insoluble, and massive knot that can come off the bail. There is no time to undo the undoable. You cut, retie as quickly as possible, and cast again. Fortunately, God has patience with such messes.
The Fall produced its own insoluble knot. Pride, deceit, disobedience, cowardice, and capitulation destroyed the simplicity and clarity of the Garden. The “No!” shouted out by our first parents drew all of humanity and all of creation into the massive tangle of the knot of sin, death, darkness, and alienation. All of human history existed in this tangle of misery. However, we weren’t left in this twisted prison: “But when the fulness of time came, God sent his Son, born from woman…” (Gal 4: 4).
Christus Victor — A Primer (Part Two)
Posted: July 30, 2017 Filed under: The Eucharist and Living the Eucharist | Tags: Christ as the New Adam reverses the disobedience and capitulation of Adam, Christus Victor as model of atonement, Gabriel's appearance in the Annunciation reverses the deceit of the serpent, Jesus is the New Adam, Mary as New Eve, Mary's obedience undoes Eve's disobedience, Primer for Christus Victor model of salvation Leave a commentA REVERSAL OF MISFORTUNES (STEP BY STEP)
Icon of the Annunciation
STEP ONE: We must have a different spiritual being who approaches the woman — one who is holy and truthful. The following New Testament passages come from St. Luke’s Gospel:
And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee by the name of Nazareth towards a virgin having been betrothed to a man by the name of Joseph from the House of David, and the name of the virgin was Mary. And upon approaching her he said, “Greetings, one-having-been-graced, the Lord is with you (Luke 1: 26 – 28).
Gabriel, unlike the serpent of old, does not deceive. He clearly declares his message:
And the angel said to her, “Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, for you shall conceive, and the Son born of you will name Jesus. He shall be great and be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God shall give to him the throne of his father David. And he shall rule over the House of David forever and his Kingdom shall not end (Luke 1: 30 – 33).
Father Irenaeus Williams 