"While he was interrogating Jesus, Pilate unexpectedly put this question to the accused: "Where are you from?" by Pope Benedict XVI
"While he was interrogating Jesus, Pilate unexpectedly put this question to the accused: "Where are you from?" by Pope Benedict XVI
Man is a relational being. And if his first, fundamental relationship is disturbed -- his relationship with God -- then nothing else can truly be in order. This is where the priority lies in Jesus' message and ministry: before all else, he wants to point man toward the essence of his malady, and to show him -- if you are not healed there, then however many good things you find, you are not truly healed.
Whereas the angel 'came' to Mary (Lk 1:28), he merely appears to Joseph in a dream.... Only a man who is inwardly watchful for the divine, only someone with a real sensitivity for God and his ways, can receive God's message in this way.
So Mary appears as a fearless woman, one who remains composed even in the presence of something unprecedented. At the same time she stands before us as a woman of great interiority, who holds heart and mind in harmony and send to understand...the overall significance of God's message.