"We are travellers…not yet in our native land" – St. Augustine
To sceptics who objected, “How can a woman give birth to God?”, Proclus responded:
“I am not telling you that a woman could give birth to God, but that the incarnate God could have been borne by a woman. For to God all things are possible”
Proclus of Constantinople (AD 446)
At this point, I’ve given a few talks on the subject of the Blessed Mother (e.g. Mary and the Early Church). However, I’ve never had a chance to speak about one of the more interesting aspects of the Annunciation, the words used in greeting by the Angel Gabriel.
Gabriel greets Mary with “Hail, full of grace!”. The Greek word used here is Kecharitomene (κεχαριτωμένη) and its significance should not be underestimated. Here’s Renee from RebornPure to explain…
Yesterday, I visited St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Los Angeles. The St. Ignatius Women’s Group invited me to give a presentation on the Blessed Virgin and the Early Church. This was a a longer version of a talk I had previously given at St. Brigid’s here in San Diego.
Over the course of forty-five minutes, I told the story of my initial struggles concerning Mary and the Catholic Marian doctrines, explaining how I eventually came to see the truth and beauty in the Catholic Church’s teaching concerning the Blessed Virgin. The audio and the handout are both available for download.
Mary and the Early Church (Download)
I was invited to speak to the group at St. Ignatius by a long-time reader of this blog. If you’re also interested in having me speak to a group at your parish or at a Diocesan Theology On Tap, please see my Speaking page for examples of other recorded talks. Just send me an email and we can work out the details! 🙂
* I couldn’t think of a Return of the Jedi pun
Last night I led Bible study at a local parish and I was asked to give an informal talk beforehand on the Virgin Mary.
My talk was entitled “How I met your (Blessed) Mother” and in it I told a little bit of my story and explained how I overcame my deep-seated resistance concerning Mary and how I ultimately came to embrace the Catholic teaching concerning the Blessed Mother.
Some friends couldn’t make it last night and asked me to record the talk, so for anyone who would like to hear it, the audio is available below.
How I met your (Blessed) Mother (Download)
Okay, this is a bit of a weird one, but I think it says a lot about the way my mind works. Besides, it’s April 1st, and if I can’t post a tongue-in-cheek article on this day, when can I?!
I would like to begin by asking a question: what do these two things have common?
