Did the angel of darkness, the serpent, sense that the time the Prophets foretold had come? Surely with his great intelligence and memory he never lost sight of and never ceased hearing the curses heaped upon him in the Garden.

He must have stalked the earth looking for a Virgin who would conceive and bear a son. In his pride he looked for someone famous and popular with thunder from heaven proclaiming her birth. The great deceiver was about to be deceived.

In Elizabeth's sixth month the Angel Gabriel appeared to a young virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph. Her name was Mary - a very common name among the Jewish people.

It was the dream of every Jewish woman to be the mother of the Messiah. Why was Mary troubled when the Angel called her highly favored? "Listen," he said, "you are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called, 'Son of the Most High.'" Mary replied, "But how can this be since I am a virgin?" She was a virgin and intended to remain so.

"The Holy Spirit will come upon you," the Angel answered, "and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so, the Child will be holy and will be called Son of God.

As all of Heaven waited to see what choice this Woman would make, she folded her hands and said, "I am the Handmaid of the Lord; let what you have said be done to me."

And then the same Power that said to nothingness, "Be made," enveloped the Woman like a shadow - elevating her to a state of union with God unheard of before and unthought of since.

As our union with God must be with all Three Persons, so Mary's union progressed from Daughter of the Father to Spouse of the Holy Spirit, to Mother of the Son. The new Eve renewed what the old Eve had lost - union with the Trinity. We too are sons and daughters of the Father. We too can be spouses of the Spirit. We too can be mothers of the Son for her Son was one day to say that he who did the Will of His Father was His brother, mother and sister.

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