The Favored One

Contemporary Lesson Amazing Peace by Maya Angelou (Random House, 2005)

We question ourselves. What have we done to so affront nature?

We interrogate and worry God.

Are you there? Are you there, really?

Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Gospel Lesson Luke 1: 26-34

26²⁷²⁸ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! God is with you.’But she was much perplexed by the angel's words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a child, and you will name the child Jesus. Your child will be great, and will be called the Child of the Most High, and God will give to your child the ancestral throne of David. Your child will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of that kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’

Advent Carol To A Maid Engaged to Joseph

To a maid engaged to Joseph, the angel Gabriel came.
“Fear not,” the angel told her, “I come to bring good news,
Good news I come to tell you, good news, I say, good news.

“For you are highly favored by the God the Lord of all,
Who even now is with you. You are on earth most blest,
You are most blest, most blessèd, God chose you, you are blest!”

But Mary was most troubled to hear the angel’s word.
What was the angel saying? It troubled her to hear,
To hear the angel’s message, it troubled her to hear.

Advent Artwork "After Gabriel's Announcement" by Paula Rubino

Oil on canvas
40" x 43.5"

"Portrays the moment after the Annunciation, when Mary is left alone with the news she just received from the angel Gabriel. Mary is turned away from the viewer's intrusion, and she is both protected and closed in by a garden wall. This painting reflects the overwhelming feelings I had when I was expecting my son: the daunting and unique responsibility of being his mother, the immediate ferocious desire to keep him safe, and most of all, the realization that my life was irreversibly changed. The red slippers are an allusion to Dorothy's desire to be home and safe." - Rubino