and floated to the shore. That iron represents our human nature which tends to sink to the depths and stick fast in the mire of iniquity. God meant it to build for itself an eternal habitation in heaven, but it fell and sank. Then the Father cast His Son — the wood of the root of Jesse — into the stream of time, and lo! according as He sank into His humble earthly existence and the degradation of His passion and death, so our nature was raised up and restored to its original purpose, viz. to construct for itself — wielded by the Son — a heavenly mansion.
Q. How was the Son of God made man?
A. The Son of God was conceived and made man by the power of the Holy Ghosts tR the womh of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The Holy House of Nazareth
The Blessed Virgin’s home at Nazareth, in which the Annunciation took place, no longer stands in that town; in the year 1294 it was miraculously conveyed to Loretto in Italy. Its site in Nazareth lies within the limits of the Franciscan convent. An altar graces the spot whereon the Incarnation was accomplished, and on the marble floor is this inscription: Verhum caro hie factum est, (Here the Word was made flesh.) The house was miraculously conveyed through the air to Loretto, to avoid desecration, and there it rests without any visible foundation, the shrine of millions pf pilgrims and thousands of miracles.
