On the Ustyug Annunciation

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, transferred from Holy Week.  To mark the day, here is a reflection on one of my favorite icons: the Ustyug Annunciation.

"Annunciation Ustyuzhskoe," Novgorod icon (12th c.), Tretyakov Gallery

“The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you’.” — Luke 1:26–28
Gabriel comes as the messenger of the one who says, “Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst” (Zech. 2:10).  Gabriel greets her within whose womb his Creator (and hers) comes to take on flesh.  In the icon, Gabriel’s hand is raised in blessing because he comes in “the fullness of time” to “a woman” (Gal. 4:4) who has “found favor with God” (Lk. 1:30), to the one who will become Mater mundi Salvatoris, Mother of the world’s Savior.*  Gabriel rejoices with all creation† in the one chosen in God’s “good pleasure” (Eph. 1:5, 9) to be the mother of the Son of God.

“Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word’.” — Luke 1:38
Like Abraham (Gen. 22:1), like David (Ps. 40:7), like her Son (Heb. 10:5–7), Mary’s response to the Lord is: “Here I am.”  She gives herself totally to the Lord.  In delighting to do the good pleasure of God’s will (Ps. 40:8; Eph. 1:5), she is made the mother of Christ, bearing him in her heart whom she will conceive in the flesh.‡  Thus, in the icon, she touches her heart, wherein dwells Christ, the King of Glory, who also makes her womb a throne.

In the icon, the Virgin Mary also holds scarlet thread in her hands.  The imagery comes from an apocryphal story in which Mary is chosen to spin scarlet and purple thread for the veil for the Temple.§  Apocryphal or not, it seems an appropriate symbol in the hands of her from whom “the Word became flesh and lived, tabernacled, among us” (Jn. 1:14).  Her flesh becomes “the temple of his body” (Jn. 2:21), and, in his face, shines forth with the glory of God (2 Cor 4:6).

Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, Alleluia. For the Lord has truly risen, Alleluia.    — Regina Coeli antiphon

* From Henryk Gorecki, Totus tuus Op. 60.
† From the Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great:  “In you, O full of grace, all creation rejoices, the ranks of Angels and the human race: hallowed temple and spiritual Paradise, pride of virgins, from whom God was made flesh; and he, who is our God before the ages, became a little Child; for he made your womb a throne; and made it wider than the heavens. In you, O full of grace, all creation rejoices. Glory to you!”
‡ Augustine, De sancta virginitate 3.3
§ Protoevangelium of James 10.

Paschal Meditation: Mary and Thomas

"Do not hold on to me.” | “Reach out your hand and put it in my side." — John 20:17, 27

In the house, the risen Jesus came and stood among the disciples, spoke a word of peace, and told Thomas, “Reach out your hand and put it in my side” (Jn 20:27).  In the garden, Mary Magdalene saw the risen Jesus when she turned around, away from the tomb.  He spoke her name, drying her tears with his voice, and told her, “Do not hold on to me” (20:17).  Why does Jesus say, in effect, to Thomas, “Touch me,” but to Mary, “Touch me not”?

Noli me tangere, "The Queen Mary Psalter" (early 14th c.)

To Mary, Jesus explains, “Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father.”  He tells her not to cling to him, because he must be “taken away” (cf. 20:2, 13, 15) again.  (He had already been taken from her twice: once at his death, and again by being taken away from his tomb.)  She, who was standing near his cross and came weeping to his tomb, must not hold on to her Master, because he is going away.  He is going away, but she will hold on to him in faith.*  He is going away to prepare a place for her, and will come again and take her to himself, that where he is, there she may be also (14:2–3). 

But not her alone.  She will not take away for herself (20:15) “the faithful martyr” (Rev. 1:4), but she will be taken by him with all his own.  And not yet, not yet, because now Jesus sends her to bear witness to him (20:17).

Like her Lord, she is a faithful witness, telling the disciples what he told her (20:18). But they do not believe, until the Lord reveals himself to them (v. 20).  Likewise, Thomas, who still has not seen the risen Lord for himself, refuses to believe their testimony until he sees what they have seen—and going further—can even put his finger in the mark of the nails and his hand in the pierced side (v. 25).  (Is this a characteristic hyperbole from the disciple who brashly declared to the others, “Let us also go [with Jesus to Jerusalem], that we may die with him” (11:16), but was not with Jesus at his death?)

Doubting Thomas, Breviary, France (early 14th c.)

Jesus reveals himself to Thomas in the same way as to the other disciples: speaking peace (20:19, 26) and showing his wounds (vv. 20, 27).  The risen Lord even commands Thomas to do what he (Thomas) had demanded:  “Put your finger here...put [your hand] in my side” (v. 27).  And adds, “Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”  Does the Lord, in humbly granting what Thomas asks, lead Thomas to the humility of faith?  For we do not read that Thomas put his hand in the Lord’s side; rather, amazed, he responds with a cry of faith, “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28)  Thomas’ answer is like that of Job after the Lord answered his demands out of the whirlwind (Job 40:60), and Job responded, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but not my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (42:5–6).

“Touch me,” Jesus tells Thomas; “Touch me not,” he tells Mary.  But he speaks one word to both:  "You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit (Jn. 15:16).  Do what I command you (15:14).  Love one another as I have loved you (15:12).  Follow me (21:22)!"

* Cf. Augustine, Tractates on the Gospel of John, 121.3.

Notes on Mary Magdalene

"Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’  She turned and said to him in Hebrew, ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher)."

John 20:16

"Noli me tangere," Exultet Roll, Abbey of Montecasino

I

"Then the disciples returned to their homes.  But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb" (John 20:10–11):  Whether or not she was the woman who washed Jesus' feet with her tears (Lk. 7:38), it is certainly true that she, "from whom seven demons had gone out" (8:2), loved much (7:47).  Mary Magdalene loved much; she was one of the few who followed Jesus to the end, and was standing near his cross when he died (Jn. 19:25).  She came early on the morning to his tomb because her grief was boundless at the loss of the one whom she loved much.

The ambiguous sign of the empty tomb could not console her.  It signified only a double loss, for no she no longer knew where the body of the one whom she had loved was laid (Jn. 20:2).

She loved much, and so she stood weeping because it was beyond hope that she would see the one she loved again.  So when she saw him, she did not recognize him, thinking only of how she could find the one who had been twice taken from her.

II

Ludwig Wittgenstein:  “Perhaps we can say: Only love can believe the Resurrection.  Or:  It is love that believes in the Resurrection.  We might say: Redeeming love believes even in the Resurrection; holds fast even to the Resurrection.  What combats doubt is, as it were, redemption.  Holding fast to this must be holding fast to that belief.  So what that means is: first you must be redeemed and hold on to your redemption (keep hold of your redemption)—then you will see that you are holding fast to this belief.  So this can come about only if you no longer rest your weight on the earth but suspend yourself from heaven.  Then everything will be different and it will be ‘no wonder’ if you can do things that you cannot do now"  (Culture and Value, 32).

III

Only when she is called by her name does she recognize the risen Jesus.  She knew his voice (Jn. 10:27), the voice of the one she followed with such great love, the voice of her Teacher (20:16).  She hears the voice of love, which says, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine" (Isa. 43:1)—and she believes in the Resurrection.

The Seven Last Words of Christ: The Seventh Word

"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

Luke 23:46

Bas-relief, Church of the Ascension of Christ in Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street,
"Church of the Small Ascension" (Moscow)

Christ Jesus, you had done nothing wrong (Lk. 23:41) and there was no deceit in your mouth, but you were condemned to death “by a perversion of justice” (Isa. 53:9, 8).  Righteous one, you suffered for us, the unrighteous (1 Pt. 3:18).  In you, the dawn from on high broke upon the shadow of death (Lk. 1:79), laying bare the dark recesses of human hearts, so you became a sign opposed by a generation under “the power of darkness” (2:34; 11:29; 22:53).  When “darkness came over the whole land...and the sun’s light failed” (Lk. 23:44–45), your righteous suffering threw the world's injustice into stark relief; even your executioner saw your innocence (23:47). 

Righteous one, when you were abused, you did not return abuse; when you suffered, you did not threaten; but you entrusted yourself to the one who judges justly (1 Pt. 2:23).  When you were “betrayed into human hands” (Lk. 9:49), you freely placed yourself into the hands of your Father.  When you—who were conceived by, lit upon and filled by, the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35; 3:22; 4:1)—commended your spirit to the Father, you were returning all that you are and have to the One who says to you, “‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’.”*  

Child of the Lord’s handmaiden (Ps. 86:16; Lk. 1:38, 48), in the boundless depth of your self-offering, you perfectly express the prayer you gave your mother, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).  Son of Adam, Son of God (Lk. 3:38), when you presented yourself, “with loud cries and tears,” to the One who was able to save you from death (Heb. 5:7), you were the perfect prayer.  “All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all...petitions and intercessions,” are gathered in your cry.†  In your last words on the Cross, your prayer is the gift of your self.

* Lk. 3:22.  Cf. Raymond Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2:1068.

† Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2606.

The Seven Last Words of Christ: The Sixth Word

"It is finished."

John 19:30

Matthias Grünewald, Isenheim Altarpiece (detail), 1515

Lord Christ, only Son of the Father, when you came down from heaven for us and our salvation, you glorified your Father by finishing the work he gave you to do (Jn. 17:4).  You are the mighty savior, born of the house of David, whom the Lord, the God of Israel, raised up to deliver his people and fulfill his promise of old to save your people from their enemies (Lk. 1:68–71).  When, in your steadfast love, you went down with Israel to Egypt to bring your people up again,* you “struck Egypt through their firstborn” (Ps. 136:10) but passed over the houses sprinkled with the blood of the lamb (Ex. 12:27).  When, “at the end of the age” (Heb. 9:26), you were lifted up and received the wine from the sponge put on hyssop, you appeared as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn. 1:29).

Christ Jesus, when you came into the world, you came to do the will of him who sent you (Jn. 6:38).  You said to your Father, “See, I have come to do your will; I delight to do your will, O my God” (Heb. 10:7, 9; Ps. 40:8).  You will was perfect obedience to the Father, and “by that will we have been sanctified” through the offering of your body (Heb. 10:10), when, through the eternal Spirit you offered yourself without blemish to the Father (9:14).  By your humility we are cleansed,† because you emptied yourself and became obedient unto death, stretching out your arms on the cross, presenting your body as “a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1).

Christ our Passover, you finished the work of love you were given to do; you were sacrificed for us (1 Cor. 5:7), and have taken away the sin of the world.  O Lamb that was slain, by your death, you have destroyed death, and by your rising to life again have restored to us everlasting life.‡

     Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, 
         miserere nobis.
     Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, 
         miserere nobis.
     Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, 
         dona nobis pacem.

* Gen. 46:4; Ps. 136:11.  Cf. Origen, In Gen. hom. 15:5, 6.

† Augustine, Io. ev. tr. 119.4.

‡ Proper Preface for Easter, The Book of Common Prayer.