It's the Feast of the Annunciation today and you can imagine Mary's conversation with Joseph, several months after her meeting with the angel.
"Mary, you're pregnant."
"Don't worry, the Holy Spirit did it."
What a brave young woman. She ran the risk of being stoned to death or, at the very least, being outcast from the community with no means of support. Fortunately an angel intervened again in the affairs of men, and put Joseph straight. Here's a prayer, taken from the concluding Collect of the Angelus:
WE beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought into the glory of his resurrection; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
God bless,
LSP
2 comments:
My news is nothing as important as the Annunciation, but it's news: I was invited back to Credenhill to hang with the lads this summer, many of my old friends from that epoch of my life are dying off and it will be one of those old codger things where Lord Guthrie toasts the fact that we didn't die before now, the band will play Lillie Marlane and we'll all get weepy as they read the roll of the fallen. Secondment was something that was arduous in the extreme and it was generous of them to remember me and to invite me back when you consider that I was just a Yank. (they called me "Yank") It has been forty years, LSP. FORTY YEARS.
That was followed a few days later by a phone call from an old friend from Ireland with an invitation to 62 Commando for another gathering there. I guess 22 SAS called them. For me, that's where it started, and from there to The Regiment. I am touched, deeply touched, that people in the old country still remember me. I spoke to the widow of my best friend from those days and she started crying, saying I must stay with her while there and that she has a reason to live now. She must be 80. Other friends have called. I'm very deeply moved. I had no idea how all that would end up when my CO asked, "Scary, how would you like to play with the Limeys?" It's been quite a journey, LSP. It will likely be the last time that I'll see many of them.
How did I live forty years from then to now? God's grace. No other explanation. I'll explain to them that I am now affiliated with the Dallas Light Cavalry (irregular) and it's a much smarter outfit than their lot...
LL, that's quite a thing, and I don't say that lightly. Of course the DLC is a quite a thing too. Few are called and even fewer chosen.
There, by the grace of God.
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