26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,
27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
While I am reluctant to accept as factual stories posted across Internet sites relating to encounters with angels, I am prepared to accept that we can process numinous incidents with a lens that satisfies our need to understand what we have experienced through our cultural education providing an answer to that which is perplexing us. For those who have encountered the numinous, their predictable response is:
why was I the recipient?
Here we enter the realm of the mysterious defying rational analysis, perhaps best appreciated for the poetic value that such stories provide for our well being. On the other hand there is also good reason to believe that such encounters take place, with the witnesses to these "incidents" convinced that their understandings have been rationally processed. Lourdes, and Fatima are but two of very many recorded episodes that defy the predictable response of the logical thinker. The witnesses to such phenomena, under examination remain coherent in their clear, and concise memory of the events.
Following the arrival of the Three Wise Men and King Herod’s order to kill all the male children under the age of two, Joseph was warned by “the angel of the Lord” to take Mary and Jesus into Egypt and “be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him” (Matthew 2:13). When Herod died, Joseph was once more instructed by the Lord’s messenger to “take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel” (Matthew 2:20).
I am providing a link to a WW11 Hollywood film touching on this topic, with the awareness that cinema audiences of that period were seeking solace dealing with the loss of so many service personnel, and civilians being killed in an ongoing war. I appreciated watching this film for it was heartwarming, and instructive providing its audience with an optimistic view that human life survives death of the flesh.
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