One of the more mysterious, and important, feasts of the liturgical year. Mary says she is the handmaid of the Lord, and through the Holy Spirit, Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, is incarnate as Man. I pity artists attempting to depict this all important moment, as human imagination I think fails us at depicting God becoming one of us. A contemporary rendering by John Collier, updates the Renaissance, and earlier, convention of having Mary in contemporary garb:
Go here to read about it.
When it comes to the great truths of the Faith that have been revealed to us by God, we often have to go up to the limits of human reason and beyond. What Christ said on another occasion is a fitting answer to whatever frustration we feel about this: “What is that to thee? Follow thou me.”.
Great choices, Donald. It’s been a while since I saw Collier’s painting. I had the privilege of being one of the catechists when John and his late wife, Shirley, went through the RCIA and entered the Catholic Church, at St. Joseph Parish in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas. I found his Annunciation incongruous at first, but it grew on me. It presents a timeless event in a way that emphasizes its timelessness.
Wow. Frank, it is a small world. I can see how the picture would have critics. It is the time equivalent of the mother and child paintings which are done in different cultural settings. For me it helps bring home the magnitude of the event which stands out even more strongly when compared to the familiar and mundane trappings.