Advent/Annunciation
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It can be very hard for us to be still enough to listen to God. He doesn’t shout or clamor for our attention. Rather, he waits for us to be still that we can hear his voice. Advent invites to that stillness; maybe these few words from a homily by Saint Bernard of Claivaux can help us.
Saint Bernard’s Homily
Saint Bernard’s Homily
Annunciation
Annunciation
You have heard it said, O Virgin,
that you will conceive and bear a son;
you have heard that it will not be by man
but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits
an answer; it is time for him to return to God
who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady,
for your word of compassion;
the sentence of condemnation
weights heavily upon us.
The price of salvation is offered to you.
We shall be set free at once if you consent.
In the eternal Word of God we all came to be,
and behold, we die.
In your brief response we are to be remade
in order to be recalled to life . . . .
Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel,
or rather through the angel to the Lord.
Answer with a word, receive the Word of God.
Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word.
Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.
Why do you delay, why are you afraid?
Believe, give praise and receive. Let humility
be bold, let modesty be confident.
This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence.
In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin,
do not fear to be presumptuous.
Though modest silence is pleasing,
dutiful speech is now more necessary.
Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin,
your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator.
See, the desired of all nations is at your door,
knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay,
in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh,
the One whom your soul loves.
Arise, hasten, open.
Arise in faith, hasten in devotion,
open in praise and thanksgiving.
"Behold the handmaid of the Lord," she says,
"be it done to me according to your word."
From a homily in Praise of the Virgin Mother by Saint Bernard, Abbot
https://yenra.com/catholic/prayers/bernardonmary.html