“Be joyful, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you.”
What could be more sublime than this joy, Virgin Mother? Or what could be more
beautiful or more glorious than this grace, which you alone have received from
God? Everything is secondary to your miracle, everything ranks lower than your
grace, and everything that is judged excellent places second to you and obtains
the lesser glory of God. God is with you, so who would dare to contend
with you? God is from you, so who will not be immediately bested and will not
rather declare joyfully your excellence and superiority? That is why I announce
to you the greatest things, seeing your superiority among all creatures. Be
joyful, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you, for from you joy
is not only bestowed on mankind, but is granted also to the powers in heaven.
“Truly you are blessed among women, for you turned the curse of
Eve into a blessing; for you made Adam, who was at first accursed, to be
blessed through you. Truly you are blessed among women, because the
blessing of the Father came upon men through you and freed them form the
ancient curse. Truly you are blessed among women, because through you
your forebears are saved; for you will give birth to the Savior who will bestow
divine salvation upon them. Truly you are blessed among women, because
without seed you produced a fruit that will bestow blessings on the whole earth
and will ransom it from the throne-laden curse. Truly you are blessed among
women, because being a woman by nature you will in fact become the Mother
of God; for if He who will be born from you is God incarnate in truth, you will
be most justly called Mother of God as the one that truly gives birth to God. (Sophronius
of Jerusalem, Homily 5, in Homilies: Sophronius of Jerusalem [trans.
John M. Duffy; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 64; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, 2020], 183, 185)
“Hence again I raise my voice with the blessed salutation of joy, ‘Be
joyful, you who are full of grace, the Lord is with you.’ I have come
bringing joy to mankind, not deadly fear; I am a minister of joy, I am not
recognized as a servant of sorrow; I appear as a messenger of joy, I am not
known as a herald of sadness. Why do you fear the one who, on the contrary,
fears you? Why are you frightened by him who is frightened by your rank? Why do
you tremble before the one who trembles at your grace? Why are you wary of him
who is wary of your splendor? I am a salve and the lowliest servant of your son
and offspring. He is the one who created me from nothing; He is the one who sent
me to you from the heavenly realms. I announce to you his coming that will
bring joy; I cry out to you his indescribable conception; I proclaim to you his
inexplicable Incarnation; I broadcast to you his birth that will be a source of
all every kind of joy. That is why I say to you, all-praised Virgin, ‘fear
not, Mary, for you have found favor with God;’ you have found favor which no
woman has ever found; you have found favor which no one has witnessed; you
have found favor which no one has received.
“And now, God-bearing vessel of the divine, hear that this favor is: ‘Behold,
you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name
Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and He will reign
over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.’
These are the tidings I have been sent from heaven to announce loudly to you;
these are the tidings I have been sent to proclaim clearly to you by the one
who will be born from you; these are the tidings that the Word of the Father
enjoined on me to convey in words expressly; these are the tidings that the
only-begotten Son of God instructed me to deliver to you. On high He gave me
the command, and here on earth I observe him; in heaven He entrusted me with the
message, and here I see him abiding in you the Virgin. He was eternal, the one
who now comes to you the Virgin; He was timeless, the one who now in time is
carried in your womb; He was without flesh, the one who will be born in the
flesh form you; He was without limitation, the one who now accepts confinement
in you. (Sophronius of Jerusalem, Homily 5, in Homilies: Sophronius of
Jerusalem [trans. John M. Duffy; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 64; Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2020], 195, 197)
