You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit. The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him. We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.
The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die. In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.
Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it. All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet. It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.
Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God. Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.
Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident. This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous. Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary. Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter. If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves. Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word. - from a sermon In Praise of the Virgin Mother by St. Bernard, abbot
I tried to hyperlink to this reading on the Universalis site before I realized that the date-referenced pages expire fairly quickly. I decided I needed a more durable copy to point to, especially as I'd be pointing to it again this morning.
I hope I never remember when this reading comes up, because every year it is a pleasant surprise to me to encounter it again. It is the slightest glimpse into what I imagine eternity in God will be like, entering into a moment - every moment at once, but in our finite earth-bound reality we can only consider a single moment in our thoughts at a time - and seeing that moment from one person's perspective, only again every perspective at once but we can now only consider one at a time. So as we see this moment from our perspective, pleading in our hearts with the mother of our Lord to grant her fiat, we will also see her own perspective in its completeness, with an even greater awareness than St. Bernard conveyed of the war raging inside of her between fear and trust, and we will see the angel's hope for all of us - including her - that she will assent. And I imagine that we will enter into every moment and every perspective of every person throughout all of history (which, come to think of it, is a terrifying concept for my puny mind that is striving for holiness when so many do not) but we will do so in the safety and with the overall knowledge of God that removes the threat from each dark heart and replaces it with love and tenderness and compassion and . . .
. . . and . . .
. . . that seems to be as close as I am able to experience and convey that thought at this moment. But no wonder St. John said that all of the books in all the world would not be able to contain all that can be said about Jesus!
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