A fact which emerges from time to time at St George's is that our congregation always includes many people who are new to the Church of England, or at least new to the Catholic tradition within the Church of England. In an era of increasing functionalism, the richness of Catholic worship and devotion proves to be more valuable than ever; in an era of intellectual aridity, the dimensions of the symbolic and the sacramental are more important than ever if religion is to speak to the whole man.
However, it is all too easy to take for granted our Catholic traditions, and to suppose that all those who are worshipping with us at any given time know and understand exactly what is going on.
The Angelus, recited each morning, noon and evening, is the thrice-daily memorial of the incarnation; so it is a devotion concerned with God's redeeming work - it is an evangelical devotion. Those of you who come to the Catholic tradition from an evangelical background should never fear that Catholicism contradicts your fundamental evangelical faith - rather it is the fullest possible expression of it both in theology and in devotion. I strongly recommend to you all Archbishop Ramsey's great book, The Gospel and the Catholic Church. He insists that at the heart of every major emphasis of the Catholic tradition lies an important truth of the Gospel. Thus, devotion to the Mother of God is a part of the fullest expression of love and worship of God himself. So, three times each day God's redeeming incarnation is recalled - and recalled with words from the gospels, from St Luke's account of the Annunciation and from St John's theological prologue.
The angel of the Lord brought the tidings unto Mary, and she conceived by the Holy Ghost.
That verse alone seems almost to contain the whole of the Gospel. The initiative always lies with God; it is his Word that addresses the Virgin. Redemption cannot begin with man's aspirations, for we have to take seriously our very real involvement with sin. We ourselves have built the barrier which separates us from God - the barrier that is broken by the incarnation when God makes his dwelling among men. That dwelling among men is our redemption - so of course we honour her in whom he dwelt; after Almighty God himself, she is par excellence the agent of our redemption.
But what was uniquely true for our Lady in history is true for us also in the spiritual life. The Word of God addresses us also; Christ seeks also to dwell within our hearts - seeks that we too may incarnate him, and so share with him and his Blessed Mother in the redemption of the world. We should not be shocked to think of Mary as the agent of redemption, for in that agency she is the type of us all; as Max Thurian expresses it, she is "Mother of the Lord, Figure of the Church".
If Christ would dwell within our hearts, our response to him must be Mary's:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
Be it unto me according to thy
word.
The creation of the world waited for God's Fiat Lux, Let there be light; the world's redemption waited for Mary's Fiat mihi, Be it unto me according to thy word. And likewise, our own sharing in the new life waits upon our response to Christ with the same total self-giving.
Later in the story of redemption, the Son of Mary knelt in agony in the garden of Gethsemane, praying that the cup of suffering might be taken away: "But nevertheless, not my will but thine be done".
These two moments of self-abandonment to the Father's will are both crucial to our redemption - crucial in the fullest sense, for they led to the cross. As Simeon said to Mary when her son was presented in the Temple: "A sword shall pierce your own heart also".
Nor is there any way round the cross for us either. When we say yes to the Christ who would dwell within us, we say yes to his whole life and death as well as to his resurrection and new life.
Christ was uniquely incarnate in the Blessed Virgin Mary in order that the world might be redeemed; and it is in order that the world might be redeemed that he seeks to dwell within our hearts today. And the world is redeemed by suffering and death. To be in Christ, to have Christ dwell within us, is not to escape suffering and death, but to see them given real meaning and purpose -to see them transfigured.
And so: "The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us" ... uniquely, historically in Mary, Mother of God; but also sacramentally, spiritually in every human heart that is open to him. For this reason, we cry with Gabriel:
Hail Mary, full of grace,
the Lord is with thee;
blessed art
thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
And for this reason we pray:
Holy Mary, Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour
of our death;
pray for us, 0 holy Mother of God,
that we may be made
worthy of the promises of Christ.
Fr Malcolm Ferrier
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