First Saturday Reflection for December 4th, 2021
The Joyful Mystery of the Annunciation
As I reflected on this mystery my first thoughts were about the fact that we read in Luke’s gospel of two different messages being delivered by Gabriel. The first is to Zechariah the father of St. John the Baptist and the second to Mary. The two stories are juxtaposed in Luke’s gospel.
I thought about Mary and Joseph’s age at the time of the annunciation. Mary was old enough to be a mother but young enough to not be currently a mom or married. So, she was probably about fifteen. Joseph, we don’t know his age, some say he was older and a widower and some say younger and unmarried. The bible doesn’t say either way if he were married previously or if he were young or old. When I think of Joseph I believe he was young and never married, maybe twenty-one or so. I believe he was very gentle and didn’t want to be married but was instead content with his work and just being Joseph but we don’t know.
I also wondered about Mary’s living conditions. What was her house like? What was her mother and father like? Did they have a house or a hut? Were there many other houses around where they lived? Did they have a stove or fireplace of some kind? What did they eat? How was she dressed? What was she doing when the angel approached her? One thing we do know is she was from Bethlehem which means “house of bread.” This is a fitting title for the place of our Lord’s birth. I imagined their home being a very modest house with a small fireplace in the kitchen, lots of sticks and twigs around, lots of bread being made. A simple dirt floor and beds. I imagined there were many other houses all in close proximity. There was a well near by and smoke coming from many chimneys. Bethlehem is also where King David lived. From John’s gospel “Some in the crowd who heard these words said, ‘This is truly the Prophet.’ Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’ But others said, ‘The Messiah will not come from Galilee, will he? Does not scripture say that the Messiah will be of David’s family and come from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ So a division occurred in the crowd because of him. Some of them even wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him” (John: 7:40-44).
Why did Luke choose to tell of both John’s birth and Jesus’ birth together? Both were miraculous. John born to aged parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and Mary, a virgin, who was overshadowed by the Holy Spirit. John, the bible says “He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of fathers toward children and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous, to prepare a people fit for the Lord” (Luke 1:17). This passage is similar to Malachi 3:23-24 “Now I am sending to you Elijah the prophet, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and terrible day; He will turn the heart of fathers to their sons, and the heart of sons to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.”
As I meditated longer on this mystery though it occurred to me that the power of the Holy Spirit is at work. Both Mary and Zechariah asked “how can this be?” that they would have a son. It was through the Holy Spirit this was accomplished. We often want to know how something is to be accomplished and can we do the thing we are setting out to do. We are weak and cannot do much but through the Holy Spirit and the grace given to us we can accomplish a lot but we have to allow it to happen and not work our own will but God’s will.
Mary said in reply “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
The Sorrowful Mystery of the Crucifixion
I entered into contemplating this mystery on the heels of thinking of how the Holy Spirit might be connected to this mystery. Of course, when we think of the crucified Lord we think of his hands and feet. His body, his head. We think of Mary and John at the foot of the cross. We think of the words “King of the Jews” inscribed upon the cross in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. We think of the soldiers casting lots for the seamless garment. We think of the two prisoners, one on his right and the other on his left. We think of the blood and water which flowed from his side after the guard pierced His side. We think of the centurion who said “truly He was an innocent man.” We think of all these things and we become saddened by them. We don’t think of the Holy Spirit.
When Jesus died this is the account in each gospel.
“But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit” Matthew (27:50).
“Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last” (Mark 15:37).
“Jesus cried out in a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit’; and when He had said this he breathed his last” (Luke 23:46).
“When Jesus had taken the wine, He said, ‘It is finished.’ And bowing His head, he handed over the spirit” (John 19:30).
The Holy Spirit it is said to “proceed from the Father and the Son.” Meaning the Holy Spirit is the Love that is from both the Father and the Son. It is their infinite love and it is a person separate but the same. No one can explain this but if the Father is infinite and something we cannot fathom and the Son is God incarnate so that we can understand, then the Holy Spirit is the essence of what connects the two and flows through all of us.
“On the last and greatest day of the feast (of tabernacles), Jesus stood up and exclaimed, ‘Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as scripture says:
“Rivers of living water will flow from within him.”’
He said this in reference to the Spirit that those who came to believe in him were to receive. There was, of course, no Spirit yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified” (John 7:37-39).
The Glorious Mystery of the Resurrection
There are many things to consider in this mystery of which I won’t cover all them here. The first five Saturday devotion calls for meditation on the mysteries of the rosary and to be honest my fifteen minutes were up well before I got to this one and so I did not meditate on it. However, I chose the three meditations before I began meditating. And in doing so I realized the Holy Spirit is a thread in all of them. Of course, the Holy Spirit is evident in the resurrection.
“So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, ‘Peace be with you.’ And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, ‘Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.’ And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them,
‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained’” (John 20:19-23).