Solemn Chapter of the Annunciation

The morning before the Solemnity of the Annunciation Chapter is held in place of Terce. After we all gather in the Chapter Hall one of the Chantresses chants the Prologue of St. John's Gospel. This year it was Sr. Denise Marie's turn. Afterwards the community makes the venia (a Dominican prostration done on one's right side). At the signal (the Prioress knocks) all rise and resume their places as the sister who has been asked to give the sermon comes forward.

It has been the custom in our monastery that for both the Solemn Chapter of the Annunciation and the Solemn Chapter of the Nativity the Prioress chooses another sister to give the sermon. This is always kept secret, so we never know who has been chosen until they step forward. This year Sr. Judith Miryam who was asked. It had been many years since sister last gave the sermon; you can read her sermon below! The Chantresses intone the Verbum Caro, and Chapter concludes with a short prayer.

Sr. Judith Miryam’s Sermon:

Sisters, I am experiencing a little déjà vu now. The last time I gave the Annunciation sermon was back in 1993 when I was a four months’ old postulant. As I look around this room, I realize that only four sisters remain from the community that gathered in the chapter hall that morning.

 Now, twenty seven years later, Judith (no, we didn’t use “Sister” for our postulants back then!) is now Sr. Judith Miryam of the Trinity, O.P. And, the additional name and title are not the only changes that the Lord has wrought in me and around me.

 We all go through changes. The monastic life is full of them, from the ritual external changes in dress from postulant veil and jumper to the habit and novice’s white veil and then to the black veil of the professed sister to the rhythm of transitions in offices, jobs, and charges, the entrances, departures, and the ultimate departure from the monastery, death. We all know the adage: “To not change means to not grow.”

 When we trace the changes in our lives, some are so tiny as to be imperceptible (only noticed in hindsight); other are major, what we call crises, turning points which are usually wrenching, turning us upside down or inside out (or both!). Whether it be the Coronvirus pandemic we are experiencing now or the death of loved ones, illness, heartbreak, rejection, the diminishment of ageing, or the special crises of our novitiate days!

 During the first term of President Obama’s administration, his chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, made a rather controversial remark, ““You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that is an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” At first hearing, it seems a rather cynical political calculation but, on second thought, there is a wisdom and insight there we can embrace and even baptize.

 Although most may not agree with me, I am going to go offer a perhaps startling opinion, namely that the Annunciation was a serious crisis for Mary that did not go to waste.

 “The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph” (Luke 1, 26). “And coming to (Mary), he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1, 28). “But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1, 29). But instead of blurting out, “Excuse me?!” Mary listens to the Angel’s message. Imagine her eyes growing wider and wider as the angel continues (with only one interruption from Mary!):

 “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God.
Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,
and you shall name him Jesus.
He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High” (Luke 1, 30-32).

 “…the Holy Spirit will come upon you,
and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
Therefore the child to be born
will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1, 35).

The Annunciation by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1898)

 There are many depictions of the Annunciation. My favorite is not (sorry, Sr. Mary Catharine) Fra Angelico’s luminous fresco in San Marco but a much later 19th century painting by American artist, Henry Ossawa Tanner. It shows a teenage Mary, in bed, with crumbled sheets and blankets, waking up to the sight of the Archangel Gabriel (a glowing column of light. Her expression is a mixture of wariness and watchfulness. Mary could be any of us, at that moment, trying to process what is happening to her.

 Think about it, Sisters! The Angel Gabriel just showed up and interrupted her life! Her fiat, her free consent to God’s will meant leaving behind her own plans, embracing in radical obedience God’s mysterious and magnificent plans. Mary became Causa salutis, “Cause of our salvation.”

 Throughout the New Testament, in those very brief glimpses of Mary, we see the consequences of her fiat, the practical application of her fidelity. Mary was not passive but proactive “She hastened to her cousin Elizabeth”. Her eyes were open, always aware of and attentive to the needs of others (the Wedding at Cana). At the foot of her Son’s cross, and in the midst of his fearful apostles she is a tower of strength and stillness.

 But there are moments of crisis, tiny and giant, in which God breaks in and calls us out of our little world, asking us to forsake our plans and projects, and respond to his. May she be a model for us, in this time of crisis, and in all times of crisis, as we respond in prayer and action, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord…”