{"id":1624,"date":"2004-12-20T12:46:32","date_gmt":"2004-12-20T16:46:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/nateptest\/2004\/12\/20\/behold-the-virgin\/"},"modified":"2004-12-20T12:46:32","modified_gmt":"2004-12-20T16:46:32","slug":"behold-the-virgin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/2004\/12\/20\/behold-the-virgin\/","title":{"rendered":"Behold the Virgin"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Since I have become a liturgical Christian, I’ve really come to value
\nthe role that Mary, the Theotokos<\/span> (God-bearer), plays in the devotion
\nof many Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox
\nChristians.  It’s stirring and encouraging to ponder the
\nincredible idea that this young woman, although confused at the message
\nof the Angel Gabriel, had enough of whatever to respond, “I am God’s
\nservant.  My life lies in God’s hands.”  That takes a lot
\nwhen you get what is, by all reasonableness, a fairly ridiculous
\nmessage about having a child inviolate.<\/p>\n


\nAs <\/span>Br. Curtis said in a sermon about a year ago<\/a>, “Lastly, you may find in Mary an intercessor. If the God whom Jesus called
\n Father is too hidden from you just now, too ferocious, too exacting, too awesome,
\n too silent, you might find some comfort in access to Mary, who seems to have
\n God’s ear: Mary, as someone to whom you can safely whisper your desires or
\n despairs… trusting that that message, through her, will get to where it belongs.”<\/p>\n

I like that.<\/p>\n

And I like Mary’s calm confidence in this text that John Tavener set to
\nmusic for Christmastide.  I know this is a bit early, but I won’t
\nbe here in the blogosphere on Christmas.
 
\n<\/p>\n

Today the Virgin<\/h3>\n
Today the Virgin comes to the cave 
To give birth to the Word eternal: 
<\/pre>\n
<\/p>\n
Rejoice, O World 
With the Angels and the Shepherds 
Give glory to the Child! 
Alleluia! 
<\/pre>\n
<\/i><\/p>\n
Mary my wife, O Mary my wife! 
What do I see? 
I took you blameless before the Lord 
From the priests of the Temple 
What do I see? 

Refrain<\/span>

Joseph the Bridegroom, O Joseph the Bridegroom! 
Do not fear. 
God in his mercy has come down to earth. 
He takes flesh in my womb 
For all the world to see. 

Refrain<\/span>

Mary, my Bride, O Mary my Bride, 
What do I see? 
You, a virgin giving birth. 
Strange mystery! 

Refrain<\/span>

Joseph the Bridegroom. O Joseph the Bridegroom! 
Do not fear. 
God in his mercy has come down to earth. 
He takes flesh in my womb 
For all the world to see. 

Refrain<\/span>

Warned by the Angel we believe 
That Mary gives birth inexplicable 
To the infant, Christ, our God. 
<\/pre>\n
Words: Mother Thekla<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Since I have become a liturgical Christian, I’ve really come to value the role that Mary, the Theotokos (God-bearer), plays in the devotion of many Anglicans, Roman Catholics, and Eastern Orthodox Christians.  It’s stirring and encouraging to ponder the incredible idea that this young woman, although confused at the message of the Angel Gabriel, had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":709,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rayleejun"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5G3PH-qc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/709"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1624\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/natep\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}