Fritz Eichenberg created this image of the Annunciation for the cover of Dorothy Day’s “The Long Loneliness.” We see an already pregnant Mary, evidently asleep, while an angel whispers in her ear. Meanwhile, a winding road leads to Mt Calvary, where 3 crosses are waiting.
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Eichenberg chose to link the turning point in Day’s memoir—her decision to respond with gratitude to the gift of her unexpected pregnancy—with Mary’s consent to accept her role in a divine plan beyond her comprehension.
The whole history of salvation is encompassed in Mary’s act of faith. But it is renewed and extended in every act of faith.
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As Dag Hammarskjold said: “I don’t know Who—or What—put the question. But st some moment I did answer Yes to Someone—or Something—and from that hour I was certain that existence is meaningful and that, therefore, my life, in self-surrender had a goal.”
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In the life of many saints their holiness did not lie in a particular action but in the constant effort, over a lifetime, to answer Yes—to follow where God was leading them. orbisbooks.com/a-living-gospe
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