My Thoughts 14/12/2021
Yesterday morning the children at the Primary school did their Nativity Play in the Church. Because of Covid restriction there were no parents there but it was filmed for the parents to watch at their leisure.
Needless to say it was a delight to hear the enthusiastic singing and watch the way the children threw themselves wholeheartedly into the production. One of my favourite parts was when the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary. He said his lines with great assertiveness, in a Polish accent. This Christmas meditation by the children was a great credit to all the staff of the school.
As someone pointed out The Angel Gabriel came not to give a message to Mary but to receive an answer. This is expressed in a poem written St. John of the Cross. It is his feast day today.
Then he summoned an archangel;
Saint Gabriel came,
And He sent him to a maiden,
Mary was her name,
Whose consent and acquiescence
Gave the mystery its birth;
It was the Trinity that clothed
With flesh the Living Word.
Though the three had worked the wonder
It was wrought in but this one,
And the incarnated Word
Was left in Mary’s womb.
And He who had a father only
Now possessed a mother,
Though not of man was He conceived
But unlike any other.
And deep within her body
His life of flesh began:
For this reason He is called
The Son of God and Man.