The Feast of the Annunciation (March 25th)

Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia

The Annunciation

Today the Church commemorates the Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lady, the moment when the Archangel Gabriel visited Mary to announce, "Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with you."  This is one of the great Marian feasts of the Church, tied directly to Our Lord's incarnational birth into the world through Mary.

Orthodox Troparion for the Feast of the Annunciation

Today is the beginning of our salvation and the manifestation of the mystery which is from eternity.  The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announces grace. So with him let us also cry to the Mother of God: Rejoice, thou who art full of grace!  The Lord is with thee.

Altar-ation

A little High Church fun.  Thank you FSSP!

Remembering Oscar Romero

Today on the Episcopal Church's calendar we remember Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador.  At Mass today, the priest read this "prayer" from Romero. 

A Prayer by Oscar Romero

"It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is even beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction
of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church's mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything,
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results,
but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders;
ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own."
Amen.

Saint of 9/11

A friend told me about this documentary about Father Mychael.