Solemnity of the Annunciation Transferred This Year to Monday, April 8
This year, the date of this grand feast day, March 25, occurred within Holy Week, and therefore, is moved to the first Monday after the Easter Octave. Today we mark the magnificent entry of God into human life and time, the conception of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the lowly Virgin Mary. Conceived without sin, Mary bowed her head to the will of God, and accepted the sword of suffering, and the joys and glory that awaited her as Mother of Our Lord. We are told of important parallels with Eve and her yielding to temptation by the fallen angel Lucifer in the garden of Eden. There, some accounts say, a woman spoke with an angel and erred. Today, another woman spoke with an angel and pronounced the great saving, “Yes,” to God’s will, countering Eve’s terrible “No,” to obeying God.