Comment

Extract

Verbum caro hie factum est.’ These words are written on the altar in the little Chapel of the Annunciation at Nazareth.

It is the significance of the ‘hie’ inserted into the otherwise familiar phrase which jolts the pilgrim into a sudden realization and awe. ‘Here'—here where he kneels, the Word was made Flesh. The two great columns representing the relevant positions of our Lady and the Angel Gabriel, even the remains of Mary's house itself, which can be seen through a grille in the wall, cannot deflect the attention from that marvellous mystery which here overwhelms the mind with special awe.

We are faced with the same ‘hie’ in the Grotto of the Nativity at Bethlehem, where the Latin inscription round the silver star reads, ‘Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary'. A simple statement that sets the mind reeling.