{"id":23280,"date":"2019-12-21T17:05:55","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T16:05:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/?p=23280"},"modified":"2019-12-21T17:06:26","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T16:06:26","slug":"knowing-christ","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/knowing-christ\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowing Christ"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-23289\" src=\"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/news.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"330\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/news.jpg 330w, https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/news-300x205.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 330px) 100vw, 330px\" \/>What did mankind know about Christ before God sent the Angel Gabriel to a Virgin bethrothed to a man named Joseph, of the tribe of David?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Men knew that the Christ would come from the nation that came from Abraham, that He would be desired by all men, and that by Him all men would receive a blessing. They knew He would be a King of an eternal kingdom. They knew about a reign of peace and the forgiveness of sins. However, this was to see Christ from the outside. It was like a child at the store-front window looking in but unable to enter and purchase to his heart\u2019s content.<\/p>\n<p>But Mary entered the fullness of the Mystery of Christ at the very moment He entered the world. For just as the dawn is a perfect light, yet seen imperfectly by people in a forest, so Mary\u2019s Knowledge of Christ was perfect, though barely seen by the rest of men. This is clearly revealed to us in the Annunciation. The Angel Gabriel salutes Mary \u201cfull of grace\u201d, using words to say that She is singled out from all others. His address is full of solemnity, so that realizing the import of the moment, Mary wonders at the greeting, pondering something beyond the reach of mortal men.<\/p>\n<p>Proceeding thus in the 3 stages described in Luke 1:28 ff, the Angel calls Mary by name to calm Her mind and direct it to the bearing of a child, who would be the son of David and King of an eternal Kingdom. He thus shows that God has chosen Mary to be the Mother of the Messias, the Hope of Abraham and the fulfillment of the promises made to David. Understanding now the meaning of \u201cfull of grace\u201d, Mary asks \u201cHow shall this be done since I know not man?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To answer, Gabriel makes the first formal announcement of the Mystery of the Holy Trinity: \u201cThe Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and the Holy that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.\u201d Hearing this, Mary\u2019s soul recognizes the graces of Her entire life, for the God who always guided Her has declared Himself to Her and there can be no doubt about what all this means. \u201cBehold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word.\u201d The Angel left Her, and God became Her son.<\/p>\n<p>At this moment, Mary knows who Christ is: \u201cYou are Christ, my Son, the offspring of Abraham, the Son of David, the Son of Man. And yet You are the living and true Son of God come among men.\u201d Though Mary cannot see Him, nor even feel Him in Her womb, She knows Him in the fullness of His Divinity and in the truth of His Humanity.<\/p>\n<p>In a similar way, we move to the perfect knowledge of Christ in the Hail Mary. \u201cFull of Grace\u201d we see God\u2019s plan. \u201cBlessed art thou among women\u201d we see the Immaculate Conception. \u201cThe fruit of thy womb Jesus\u201d we see the offspring of Abraham, son of David, Messias, Redeemer. \u201cMother of God\u201d, we see the Divinity. In saying \u201cpray for us sinners\u201d we mean \u201clet it be done unto me according to thy will\u201d and freely enter this holy mystery bringing the grace of the Redeemer into the world around us. Let us say this prayer, not merely as children echoing unknown words, but as those who have fully entered the Mystery of Christ. Ave Maria!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fsspx.news\/en\/news-events\/news\/knowing-christ-53616\" class=\"broken_link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">https:\/\/fsspx.news\/en\/news-events\/news\/knowing-christ-53616<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What did mankind know about Christ before God sent the Angel Gabriel to a Virgin bethrothed to a man named Joseph, of the tribe of David? Men knew that the Christ would come from the nation that came from Abraham, that He would be desired by all men, and that<a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/knowing-christ\/\">Read More &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":23281,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[204,90],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23297,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23280\/revisions\/23297"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test4.mi-backup.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}