Forgive me the sinner.

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

On this day, deep in the heart of the Great Fast of Holy Lent, as we move ever deeper into the bowels of the Great Fast until we come to the Great and Holy Week of Our Lord’s Passion – our true goal in all of this – the Church basks in the splendor of the bright but momentary Feast of the Annunciation.  It is at once for us a sorrowful joy and a joyful sorrow.  For but a very brief moment we hear the angelic voice breaking the silence of Lent to announce to her, who is full of grace, the Gospel of salvation – our salvation: “’Rejoice, O Virgin Theotokos, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.  Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb: for thou hast borne the Saviour of our souls’” (Theotokion).  Unlike that fallen angel and former companion in the angelic way, the Archangel Gabriel speaks Lifegiving hope to this Woman full of grace and Lady Ever-Virgin.  He invites her to become a participant in the reclamation of fallen humanity, to unravel the knots tied by the other Eve at the dawn of time, and to become the gateway of salvation – God’s salvation – and not just salvation, but to conceive in her ever-virginal womb the Saviour Himself Who is God-in-the-flesh, a thing heretofore unheard of and, with all due respect to Solomon the Wise, something new under the sun! 

Here, on this great and glorious day, deep in the heart of Great and Holy Lent, the Proto-Evangelion comes to fulfillment first promised to the fallen couple.  It is the first ray of light breaching the horizon of the dark morning, enlightening all.  Indeed, the Light of Christ illumines all (Presanctified; Jn. 1:5, 9).  Speaking to that ancient and bedeviled serpent, God declared, “’I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel’” (Gn. 3:15).  Interestingly, there is this rendering in the Douay-Rheims Bible of that same verse: “And the Lord God said to the serpent: . . . I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.’”  She.  It is the Woman before the Archangel who tramples the head of the serpent by the obedience of humility, thereby reversing what had been unleashed in the disobedience of pride there in the Garden. 

Be assured, beloved, this does not detract from the Saviour of our souls.  By Him and Him alone, and through Him alone and no one else, God has decisively acted on behalf of all those whom He calls His brethren (Ac. 4:12; Pp. 2:5-11).  But, as she is always wont to do, the Most Holy Theotokos defers always to her beloved Son with a slight bowing of her head and the gentle invitation of her hand – all directing us to Him since only He takes away the sin of the world (Jn. 1:29).  And yet, without her utmost humility and unhesitating obedience, there would have been no Incarnation, no taking on of our flesh and blood through which the very Son of God and Son of the Virgin experiences death in order to “destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage” (Hb. 2:11-18; 1 Jn. 3:8).  This is why the Church can comfortably venerate her as the Mediatrix of salvation: through her most holy virginal womb salvation comes or is mediated to us in Jesus Christ.  And nothing can reverse that act of God (Ek. 43:27-44:4). 

And so, the Church rejoices, taking refreshment at this oasis, fed by streams flowing from the Cross:

Today is the beginning of our salvation, the revelation of the eternal Mystery!  The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin as Gabriel announces the coming of Grace.  Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos: Rejoice, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with thee (Festal Troparion).               

Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Lord Jesus Christ our God,

have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.

           Glory to Jesus Christ!  Glory forever!

VIGIL PROPERS:                            PROPERS:

Gn. 28:10-17                                                   Hb. 2:11-18

Ek. 43:27-44:4                                                            Lk. 1:24-38      

Pr. 9:1-11

Ex. 3:1-8

Pr. 8:22-30