If my files are to be believed, I started writing “Dixit Maria” in May 2020. I don’t know
what was on my mind then, except maybe the same revelation that everybody was reaching:
the pandemic wasn’t going to be six weeks of shutdowns then life returning to normal.
I was craving simplicity, beauty, and escapism in the art I was making. Those elements
are all in “Dixit Maria.”
The text is quite simple: it’s the last portion of the interaction Gabriel and Mary have at
the Annunciation. Mary says to Gabriel, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done unto
me according to your word.” I suppose I’m impressed that she had the ability to say anything.
If an angel appeared before me, let alone delivering that message, I’d be sitting in stunned
silence for a long, long time. But Mary doesn’t question, doesn’t argue, doesn’t quibble.
She accepts the role that she has been given. And perhaps that was the message I was driving
at: acceptance of what we’d all been handed.
Dixit Maria ad Angelum:
Ecce, ancilla Domini;
fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.
Translation:
Mary said to the Angel:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord;
Be it done unto me according to your word.