ναός

SCRUTATIO SCRIPTURAE

ναός

NAOS

(TEMPLE)

Scrutatio 
for the 
FEAST OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
November 21, 2012
(WEDNESDAY)

Readings for the Pauline/Vatican II Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass
Zechariah 2:14-17 / Luke 1:46-47, 48-49, 50-51, 52-53, 54-55 / Matthew 12:46-50

Readings for the Tridentine Rite of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass

Introit: Psalm 45:1 

Epistle: Ecclesiaticus (Sirach) 24:14-16 

Gradual: 

Thou art blessed and venerable, O Virgin Mary, who without any violation of purity wert found the Mother of our Savior. V: Virgin Mother of God, He whom the whole world cannot hold enclosed Himself in thy womb, being made man. Alleluia, alleluia. V: After childbirth thou didst remain a Virgin: O Mother of God, intercede for us. Alleluia. 

Alleluia:

Luke 1:28

Gospel 

Luke 11:27-28

Offertory: 

Luke 1:28, 42 

Communion Antiphon: Blessed is the womb of the Virgin Mary, which bore the Son of the Eternal Father. (Luke 1:42)

Anne, the mother of our Blessed Lady (γύναι-gnyai in Greek John 2:4), being part of the priestly tribe of Levi, offered her only daughter to the Temple for a period of time as a נָזִיר-nazir to serve YAHWEH EL SHADDAI, ADONAI ELOHIM KOL YAKHOL, from her 5th year to her age of adolescence...

Let us meditate on this great feast through this homily by the "Casanova" of Carthage turned illustrious Bishop of Hippo and a father of the Church of the 4th century A.D., Aurelius Augustinus entitled:

She Who Believed by Faith, Conceived by Faith

Stretching out his hand over his disciples, the Lord Christ declared: Here are my mother and my brothers, anyone who does the will of my Father who sent me is my brother and my sister and my mother. I would urge you to ponder these words. Did the virgin Mary, who believed by faith and conceived by faith, who was the chosen one from whom our Savior was born among men, who was created by Christ before Christ was created in her – did she not do the will of the Father? Indeed the blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will, and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christ’s disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb him whom she would obey as her master.

Now listen and see if the words of Scripture do not agree with what I have said. The Lord was passing by and crowds were following him. His miracles gave proof of divine power, and a woman cried out: Happy is the womb that bore you, blessed is that womb! But the Lord, not wishing people to seek happiness in a purely physical relationship, replied: More blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Mary heard God’s word and kept it, and so she is blessed. She kept God’s truth in her mind, a nobler thing than carrying his body in her womb. The truth and the body were both Christ: he was kept in Mary’s mind insofar as he is truth, he was carried in her womb insofar as he is man; but what is kept in the mind is of a higher order than what is carried in the womb.

The Virgin Mary is both holy and blessed, and yet the Church is greater than she. Mary is a part of the Church, a member of the Church, a holy, an eminent – the most eminent – member, but still only a member of the entire body. The body undoubtedly is greater than she, one of its members. This body has the Lord for its head, and head and body together make up the whole Christ. In other words, our head is divine – our head is God.

Now, beloved, give me your whole attention, for you also are members of Christ; you also are the body of Christ. Consider how you yourselves can be among those of whom the Lord said: Here are my mother and my brothers.Do you wonder how you can be the mother of Christ? He himself said:Whoever hears and fulfills the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and my sister and my mother. As for our being the brothers and sisters of Christ, we can understand this because although there is only one inheritance and Christ is the only Son, his mercy would not allow him to remain alone. It was his wish that we too should be heirs of the Father, and co-heirs with himself.

Now having said that all of you are brothers of Christ, shall I now dare to call you his mother? Much less would I dare to deny his own words. Tell me how Mary became the mother of Christ, if it was not by giving birth to the members of Christ? You, to whom I am speaking, are the members of Christ. Of whom were you born? “Of Mother Church,” I hear the reply of your hearts. You became sons of this mother at your baptism, you came to birth then as members of Christ. Now you in your turn must draw to the font of baptism as many as you possibly can. You became sons when you were born there yourselves, and now by bringing others to birth in the same way, you have it in your power to become the mothers of Christ.

As the FIRST BORN-AGAIN CHRISTIAN, Our Blessed Mother is the LIVING IMAGE of the CHURCH PAR EXCELLENCE! 

May we follow her example by offering our whole lives to our ALMIGHTY GOD!