The Annunciation - March 25th

On March 25th we celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation (yes, exactly 9 months before Christmas). It is on this day that we commemorate the Archangel Gabriel coming to Mary to announce that she had been chosen by God to bear His only-beggotten Son. Through the instrument of her agreeing to the Angel's announcment, and by the power of the Holy Ghost, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity took human flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin of Nazareth.

This Lenten Season, as we are concentrating on, and moving towards the celebration of the end His earthly ministry, our Lord's death and resurrection, let us take a holy glance backward to the beginning of our redemption in His Incarnation (a fancy S.A.T. word for "In the flesh").

And Mary said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word." (Luke 1:38) May we always be as willing to do God's will and be willing to serve as He sees fit!
Painting by Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1898, owned by the Phila Museum of Art