Millions of pilgrims, for centuries, have come to the modest room of Mary (the grotto of the Annunciation) in the village of Nazareth. And today, the bells of the Basilica of the Annunciation make the prayer of the Christian tradition resound in our hearts:
– “The angel of the Lord announced Mary and she conceived of the Holy Spirit.
-Behold, the servant of the LORD, let it be done in me according to your word.
– And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”
What happened in this “grotto” that has become so famous? What is its importance and fascination?
After centuries of the prophecy of Isaiah about the “‘almâ” (Hebrew text: ‘almâ – Greek text LXX: Parthenos) who will give birth to a son (Is 7,14 …), after a patient and tireless preparation by God towards his people, finally, “toto orbe in pace composito”(Calenda of Christmas: “”the whole world in peace””), more than 2000 years ago, the eternal Father, through his heavenly messenger, bent down to a young girl (14-15 years old?) named MARY in the then unknown village of Nazareth, to ask her to be the Mother of his Son! A proposal of immense scope… and Mary is astonished and “troubled” (the word St. Luke uses says “deep trouble!”) … she thought of remaining a virgin … how will this be possible? With prudence and wisdom, she asks… the angel enlightens her and reassures her: “Do not be afraid, you have found favor with God, nothing is impossible for Him… and then, as a humble servant of the Lord, she pronounces her“FIAT”. Her YES to God’s action in her, and the Holy Spirit overshadows her and the second Person of the adorable Trinity is incarnated in her womb: the New Covenant begins. The Lord spoke on Mount Sinai, the Lord spoke in this humble grotto of Nazareth. Mystery, profound mystery for our human intelligence; mystery to be believed and worshipped.
Artists, poets, iconographers, mystics, saints and simple people like us have reflected on this extraordinary and wonderful event of a God who wanted, out of love, to become one of us in a unique and incomparable humiliation; historical and divine event that theologians have never finished scrutinizing, and it will always be so, because this mystery is unfathomable.
And since then, the unknown young woman of Nazareth who became the Mother of God (Theotokos), wife of the Holy Spirit, delights of the Trinity, sanctuary of the deity, is the friend, the sister, the mother, the comforter, the inspirator, the refuge. Mary “gave herself entirely to the person and work of her Son, to serve, in her dependence and with him, by the grace of God, the Mystery of the Redemption” (CIC 494)
“In Mary is enclosed God, Himself, all the heavens and all creatures, and by the blood drawn from Mary, everyone is saved” (Words of Santa Maria Maddalena Pazzi)
Saint Bernard, the lover of the Virgin, said:
“De Maria Numquam Satis” …
“of Mary will never be said enough…”