News Item: : Feast of the Annunciation 2016
(Category: Torch of The Faith News)
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Monday 04 April 2016 - 13:48:15

Reminder: Due to the fact that the traditional date fell on Good Friday this year, the Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated today.

An Expressive Image

We find the beautiful paintings of Fra Angelico to be particularly appropriate for both contemplation and catechetical instruction.

Of the various images that he created to represent the mystery of the Annunciation, the above picture is one of our all-time favourites. As such, we often used to draw from it when we offered catechesis in parishes.

Not only is this painting rich in ambience and colour; but its deep symbolism expresses a wealth of theological truths.

Context

Fra Angelico painted this image some time around the year 1430, for the convent of San Domenico in Fiesole. Preserved today in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, it is thought by many art historians to be the third in his series of Annunciation paintings; this series also includes Fra Angelico's other representations of the Annunciation of Cortona and his Annunciation of San Giovanni Valdarno.

Content

For the purposes of prayerful contemplation and catechetical instruction, both of which should ever go hand-in-hand, there are a number of elements which we will consider here today.

Trinitarian

Perhaps the first thing to notice is that the image is constructed around a framework of three distinct areas. These include the outer garden, the angel's arch and the arch within which sanctuary sits the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Though distinct, these three dimensions are all illumined and unified by the ray of divine light emanating from the top left-hand corner: God is the source of all that is; and He holds all things, including the spiritual and the temporal realms, in being and order.

This ray of light is itself expressive of the Blessed Trinity: God the Father is its source and origin; the dove in the centre of the ray, depicted near to the Angel Gabriel, represents the Holy Ghost; and the Incarnate Word is contained hidden in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, from the moment that She gives her fiat - Her total ''Yes'' - to God and His salvific plan.

Again, in a roundel above the central of the three pillars is a classical-looking image, which is representative of God the Father gazing down upon the peaceful scene. Through this image, and the light at the top left, we can again understand that the Father is the beginning and also the centre of all things.

Christocentric Unity

After the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, Our Blessed Lady is the principal person in the whole History of Salvation. In Her being and acts, She unites the mysteries of the Old and New Testaments; in a certain sense, Our Lady is the bridge between them. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the One Who brings this unity par excellence.

By the power of the Holy Ghost, He becomes present in the Blessed Virgin's Womb and brings together the divine and the human, heaven and earth, the natural and the supernatural. These profound unities will be continued in, and through, Christ's Church in Heaven, Purgatory and Earth. 

Fallen Shadows and Flickers of Light

At the left of the picture, in the outer garden, we see our first parents, Adam and Eve, being banished by the Angel from the Garden of Eden. He carries out God's just punishment of them for the Original Sin. At the right of the image, we witness the reversal of this primordial crime; through the obedience of the New Eve and the New Adam - Our Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ. In the centre, the Angel links these events: his wings lead up from near the fallen fruit at the feet of Adam and Eve; his person bows from a point between them and Our Lady; and His face looks forward towards Her in expectant, yet peaceful, anticipation.

Although Adam and Eve's sin has brought darkness into the Garden, God's Light remains supreme above all things. Indeed, even the sin-darkened floor of the Garden is dotted with ''lights'' large and small. Whilst the forbidden fruit is seen at the feet of Adam and Eve, we also notice the fruits and flowers of other plants; breaking the deep darkness with their beauty and colour.

This recalls us to an important distinction: Although the image of God - the imago Dei - was gravely damaged in mankind by the Fall, it was not totally destroyed. Unlike the doctrine of ''total depravity'' found in the likes of Calvinistic Protestantism, Catholic truth rather affirms that mankind retained some essential goodness. After the Fall, we are in a sense damaged goods! We are in the shadowlands; but we may also receive the light. There is a hint of this in Oscar Wilde's line: ''We are all of us in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars!''

Though punished, mankind is not therefore totally destroyed by God's punishment. Instead, we remain held in being by God. The image of God can and ultimately will be restored by, in and with Christ; we are able to participate in this mystery through Baptism and the life of grace.

Mankind also retains: the natural powers of the memory, intellect and will; the ability to know that God exists; to discern the natural law; seek goodness, beauty and truth; form community; and find human and divine love.

Genesis 3:15 - that protoevangelium - is both an expression of God's just punishment; and of His promise of mercy and the future restoration in Christ.

Therefore, those flowers and fruits, the scattered flecks of light in the darkness of the Garden, can be seen as the various kings, prophets, and forerunners of Our Lady, and of Jesus Christ, who emerge throughout the times of the Old Testament. As we see in the picture, these lights become brighter, and can be seen with greater clarity, as they approach the Annunciation of Christ by the Angel.

The San Domenico painting is rare because, as this picture shows, it still has its original predella intact: In this instance, the rare wooden framework includes various scenes from the life of Our Lady.

Closer inspection also reveals further important symbology: the Palm tree points forward to the future Passion of Christ; whilst the dots of red flowers recall His Precious Blood.

Humble Acceptance

Adam and Eve sorrowfully leave the garden with heads bowed. God's punishment is righteous and they must accept it as the just penalty for their sinful disobedience. On the other hand, both the Angel and Our Lady have their heads bowed in a peaceful demeanour. They are free from sin and theirs is thus a humble and loving acceptance of God and His plan.

The Angel bows his head beneath that of Our Lady. She is Full of Grace and without any of the stain of Original or Actual Sin. This is a work of grace; dependent on Christ's saving Person and Work. The Angel Gabriel greets Our Lady with hands crossed in a very tranquil expression of humility. It is a gesture echoed by the Blessed Virgin Mary Herself.

Already, Our Lady is contemplating the Word of God. This fact is depicted by the inclusion of the Sacred Scriptures upon Her knee. When the Angel Gabriel greeted Her, Our Lady was already looking ahead for the coming of the Messiah.

At the Annunciation by the Angel, She becomes the first human being to believe in, and to accept, Jesus Christ as the one true Saviour of the World. She accepts Him into Her heart and into her very womb. Indeed, as He is the very Word of God Incarnate, He shall one day sit upon Her knee in person, as a small child.

And Our Lady will also lay His crucified body across Her knee when He is taken down from the Cross at Calvary. Sacred Scripture and Tradition teach us that She is present at key stages of the salvation which Christ won for us. Examples include: the Annunciation; Incarnation; Birth; Presentation in the Temple; Finding in the Temple; elements of His Public Ministry; the Crucifixion; Resurrection and Pentecost.

Deeper contemplation enables the viewer to recall that, though largely hidden in this image, Christ is the One Who most embodies humble acceptance: He becomes a child in the womb; is born as a baby; grows to human maturity as a man; carries out a public ministry of preaching, healing and witness; accepts opposition and is even crucifed for us. He does all of this without complaint in order to save us from sin, enlighten us from error, enable us to become holy and to enter into eternal life with Him.

From Darkness to Light

Fra Angelico's elegant depiction of the Annunciation uses darkness, light, colour and shade to express these central themes of the Mysteries of God and of Salvation History.

God's wonderful Light shines above the darkness of sin, and cuts through the darkness of error, to bring us to the goodness and truth of Christ.

The darkness from the times from the Fall to the Annunciation is always under the ultimate power of God's Light. Indeed, even this darkness is itself ''peppered'' with the smaller lights and hopes shed by God's prophets; and by the ''types'' that he sent to point towards Our Lady and Our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the painting, Our Lady is richly dressed in expressive colours of blue representing Her virginity, red for Her maternity and green suggesting the new life She welcomes and brings forth. The gold of the Angel's halo and wings, of Our Lady's halo, and of the wall-hanging behind Her, recall us to the reality of Heaven and the presence of grace. 

From Death to New Life in Christ

The green Palm Tree brings together the key themes of: the death that entered by Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the forbidden Tree of Knowledge; Christ's saving death on the Tree of the Cross; and the new life in Christ, as the Tree of Life.

Annunciation Joy

Contemplative prayer and authentic catechesis present us with inter-related conduits of God's grace. They are ways for us to: become open to an annunciation of Christ's Good News; to receive it; to allow grace to nurture it; and to allow it to become fecund in our hearts, minds, wills and actions, thus bringing forth Christ in ourselves and into the world.

March 2012: Torch of The Faith drawing from a copy of Fra Angelico's Annunciation painting to give orthodox marriage preparation catechesis to young engaged couples, at Greyfriars in Oxford.

One of the many dimensions of today's great Feast of Our Lady and the Annunciation is that it offers us one of the most foundational models for this openness, acceptance, nurturing and fecundity.

At the Annunciation, we see that Our Lady's openness, humility and total ''Yes'' to God's plan brought forth His Son Jesus Christ to the world. If we are to do that, according to the capacities God has given us, then we need to ask Our Lady to teach and help us. That is one of the reasons that the Church gives us this feast each year.

We wish all of our readers a Blessed Feast of the Annunciation!  

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This news item is from Torch of The Faith
( http://www.torchofthefaith.com/news.php?extend.1279 )