01 Rosary Rant – Joyful – 1 – Annunciation

Remember that the easiest way to pray the rosary is to recognize that Jesus and Mary and Joseph are with you right here, right now, as they are in heaven, not as they were a couple thousand years ago. Sure, take a look at what they did for you and all of back in the day, but, in our Lord’s grace, with a spirit of humble thanksgiving for them, right here, right now.

Remember, it’s not about your imagination that you are in their presence, which Pelagian effort of imagination is a lot of hooey; rather, your act of the will, in our Lord’s grace, to humbly thank Him and our Blessed Mother is what the prayer of the rosary is all about.

Clever meditations, whether in “rant” style or, later, please God, in a style presented in a more genteel manner (when I get all the Scripture tomes out of the boxes and on some now non-existent shelves), don’t get anyone anywhere. The only way what is presented on this blog is going to help anyone is if that someone, by the grace of our Lord, uses these words as an occasion to humbly thank the Holy Family right now for what went in back in the day.

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For this preliminary “rant meditation” on the first joyful mystery of the most holy rosary, a summary interlinear comment on Luke 1,26-38. Here’s my in-your-face translation from the Greek with an eye to the Vulgate. I’m not into the esoteric practice of translating one word for one word, as if, magically, all languages had absolutely perfect one word for one word equivalents. Such pretension cannot ever provide a great translation, unless you’re in a position to create the language, as was the case with the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, which made up a goodly number of words, but paraphrased the rest. Instead, trying to avoid coining any words, I’ll provide a translation with more in-your-face accuracy than any one word for one word translation could ever present:

Luke 1,26 But in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent forth from God into a city of Galilee which had the name Nazareth 27 to a virgin being betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the city of David, and the name of the virgin was Mary. 28 And, having entered unto her, he said,

“Rejoice, you who continue to be perfectly transformed in grace, the Lord is with you. You continue to be perfectly blessed among women.”

29 But she was greatly troubled over the word, and pondered: “What would such a greeting mean?” 30 And the angel said to her,

“Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace in the presence of God. 31 And behold! You will conceive in the womb, and you will give birth to a Son, and you are to call His name, Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of David His father, 33 and He will reign over the House of Jacob unto eternity, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

34 But Mary said to the angel,

“How will this be, since I do not sexually know any man?”

35 And answering, the angel said to her,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for this reason, the Child being born holy will be called Son of God. 36 And behold! Elizabeth, your kinswoman, even she has conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her, the one being called barren, 37 for there is not any word which is impossible with God.”

38 Then Mary said,

“Behold the woman slave of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.”

And the angel departed from her.

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Now, let’s try some [HSH commentary]…

Luke 1,26 But in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent forth from God into a city of Galilee which had the name Nazareth 27 to a virgin being betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the city of David, and the name of the virgin was Mary. 28 And, having entered unto her, he said, “Rejoice [eventually, from χάρις, grace, charity, rejoicing because of grace], you who continue to be perfectly transformed in grace, the Lord is with you” [κεχαριτωμένη, from χάρις, grace, charity, a perfect passive participle; the perfect in this Greek unlike other languages, having the meaning that since the action began, and that in a perfect manner, the perfection of the action continues undiminished until the present. Mary's name here is "She who continues to be perfectly transformed in grace"*]. 29 But she was greatly troubled over the word, and pondered: “What would such a greeting mean?” 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not fear, Mary, for you have found grace [from χάρις, grace, charity] in the presence of God [who is χάρις, grace, charity, love]. 31 And behold! You will conceive in the womb ["IN the womb": without the sexual intervention of a man; Mary will remain a virgin], and you will give birth to a Son, and you are to call His name, Jesus [Savior]. 32 He will be great, and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of David His father, 33 and He will reign over the House of Jacob unto eternity, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 34 But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I do not sexually know any man?” 35 And answering, the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for this reason, the Child being born holy will be called Son of God. [According to the Law, no man can possibly be born holy, opening the womb in a blood filled manner. The birth will also be miraculous. Mary will remain a virgin.] 36 And behold! Elizabeth, your kinswoman, even she has conceived a son in her old age [another miracle], and this is the sixth month for her, the one being called barren, 37 for there is not any word [reminding one of the Word] which is impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Behold the woman-slave of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. [Jesus, just one cell, embraces the entirety of His Mystical Body throughout time from the first instant of His conception, as Pius XII reminded us in his encyclical Mystici Corporis Christi. Thank you, Jesus, and thank you, Mary, for all that you have done for us back in the day. Have us so die to ourselves that we might live for the One who was conceived so as to die so as to bring us to life. Thank you.]

Saint Paul will use the aorist form of κεχαριτωμένη to describe our own, post-conception transformation in grace, that is, at baptism. We are transformed in grace at that time, but this may not be perfectly continuous as it was for Mary! According to the context, Mary was transformed in grace from the fist moment she began to prepare to be the virgin mother of God, that is, from the first instant of her conception, her Immaculate Conception. We read of this in the Hebrew text and context of Genesis 3,15, but a comment on that will have to wait for the popular version of the thesis.

[*I'm in agreement, of course, with a great friend, Father Ignace de la Potterie, S.J. (R.I.P.), on this point.]

HAIL MARY… (x10)… Perhaps you could, in your charity, offer right here, right now, a decade of the rosary for priests and bishops in the purgatory of this life and the next. They will thank you forever!

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Just to say: Mary knew that she could have been stoned to death for it being thought that she conceived a child out of wedlock with someone to whom she was not betrothed. She trusted in God in an impossible circumstance. To make matters difficult, the angel Gabriel did not have a chat with Saint Joseph about this until much later. And Mary couldn’t say anything. How could she? Was Joseph to believe such a story if the angel didn’t appear to him?

The contemplative prayer of Mary must have been so wonderful with Jesus within her womb for nine months…