Our Lady and Time

De Maria numquam satis.

Have you ever thought to yourself "Why, does time not fly?!" especially when you found yourself cooking pancakes on Shrove Tuesday when Christmas felt just moments ago. That was what I felt like for this Lent. Our Lord has fast-forwarded time in some pretty radical fashion; two months in the Liturgical Calendar can mean 33 years sometimes!

What is interesting about Our Lord's Incarnation is that The God-Man who was conceived in a Virgin's womb that was the God Eternal existing outside Time and Space, agreed to take on the DNA of a mortal human being. Imagine; they would have looked alike! I do not know what part of Our Lady Christ would have had but it would have been nice to have Our Lady's eyes; not that I mind my travel-size eyes but... Regarding whether Our Lady was strictly speaking mortal or not, I know there are disputes. I tend to think She did not; death is a consequence of the Fall and since Our Lady was preserved from the effects of the Fall, I think She would have just "fallen asleep" when She was taken up to Heaven. But nevertheless there is little doubt that She was a fragile human being; She needed to eat, She needed to sleep etc.. A mortal human conceived the immortal God!

Blessed Fra Angelico, "Annunciation"

This is Blessed Fra Angelico's Annunciation. I never knew he was beatified! Apparently he had such an angelic temperament people called him Fra Angelico after his death. In the painting, do you notice a couple with a sad expression? I initially thought it was nothing significant but really, I started to believe they were Adam and Eve in the background! So really, as soon as they are cast out of the Garden of Eden, Our Lady conceives Christ?! But what about all the Old Testament stories; Noah's Ark (it's gonna be floody floody) etc... Does that mean, in the end, in the back of God's Eternal Mind, He already had it all thought out as soon as they were driven out of the Garden of Eden? Actually, there might be some Biblical evidence to that, too; I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel. Gen 3:15) I guess God's first thought of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception even before St Ann was born would have been a happy thought though; God would have given Her so many virtues, beautiful features, lovely singing voice... The only boast of the human race.

Now for Her, She sits in Her Queen's Throne in Heaven. In Heaven, there is neither time nor space. What matters now as for "Time" to Her is how much quality time we spend with Her in prayers. I am still keeping the 15 minutes a day Skype promise; although it always ends up being much longer than that. Actually, five decades of the Rosary usually take about 15 minutes. Maybe I should Skype Our Lady more often then!

Parting gift for today is Ave Maris Stella. You will be familiar with it if you do the Total Consecration to Our Lady by St Louis-Marie Montfort (link: http://fisheaters.com/totalconsecrationmontfort.html) or if you say the Little Office.

Ave Maris Stella: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVmbEC-jumc&feature=related