Friday, March 25, 2011

Feast of the Annunciation

Artist: Alexandr Ivanov

Hello, dear people. I do apologize for being out of commission for several days. I've come down with a dreadful cough which has interrupted my sleep and made it difficult for me to carry out my normal routine. I also have a house guest at the moment and so I haven't had my usual time available for blogging. I hope all the usual readers who check in here are well and continuing to give attention to contemplation.

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Think about it. Today is exactly nine months before Christmas.) On this day we celebrate both the great mystery of the Incarnation and the central role of consent in the life of the Christian. It was Mary's great fiat - her "let it be" - that made it all possible.

So will it surprise you that I offer the following as our quotation for today?
When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the broken hearted people living in the world agree,
there will be an answer, let it be.
For though they may be parted there is still a chance that they will see,
there will be an answer. let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light, that shines on me,
shine until tomorrow, let it be.
I wake up to the sound of music, mother Mary comes to me,
speaking words of wisdom, let it be.

Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be.
Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

-- The Beatles (Lennon/McCartney)

11 comments:

  1. Thank you for your wonderful blog site. It is a lovely gift to discover it during Lent. Hope that your cough gets better soon. Regards Caro

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  2. oh ellie, i just love this post....let it be indeed!

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  3. Thank you for your comment, Caro. Please come visit again. I'm particularly glad that you've found it meaningful to your observance of Lent.

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  4. Oh, and Roberta! I see you've just posted. So good to see you. Yup, "let it be" is definitely the word for today!

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  5. Ellie, whisper it, I wouldn't let it slip to other people, but I often pray "let it be", with its variants, "let it be allright" and "let all manner of thing be well". As a way of letting God do the God thing. It's how I end up any prayer I pray.

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  6. PS I hope your cough is better?

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  7. I'll never tell, Cathy! :-) And that's a wonderful way to end a prayer session.

    Cough is better, thanks be to God, but I'm not 100% yet. Goodness, it's been a rough week or so. Thanks for asking!

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  8. Ellie, good to hear cough is getting better. Coughs are annoying, and boring too.

    It seems to me it's best to pray in a way that leaves God space, and leaves open the possibility that it all might end up in deep poo, but that's still OK. Hope that makes sense?

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  9. (PS Well of course it makes sense. This is what you have been saying all along!)

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