My beloved spiritual children in Christ Our Only True God and Our Only True Savior,CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND SHALL EVER BE.

THE HOLY AND GLORIOUS FEAST-DAY OF THE ANNUNCIATION

When the Most Holy Virgin had lived and served in the Temple at Jerusalem for eleven years and was by then fourteen (14) years old -- when that is, she was entering on her fifteenth (15) year -- the priests informed her that, according to the Law, she could no longer remain in the Temple but must be betrothed and marry. But, to the great surprise of all the priests (rabies), the Most Holy Virgin replied that she had dedicated herself to God and wished to remain a maiden till death and enter into wedlock with no-one. Then, by God's providence and under His inspiration, Zacharias, the high priest, and father of Saint the Baptist and Forerunner, in consultation with the other priests, chose twelve unmarried men from the tribe of David so that they might entrust the Virgin Mary to one of them to preserve her virginity and care for her. She was thus entrusted to Joseph, an old man from Nazareth and a kinsman of hers. In his house, the Most Holy Virgin continued to live in the same manner as in the Temple of Solomon, passing her time in the reading of the Sacred Scripture, in prayer, in pondering on the works of God, in fasting and in handwork. She scarcely ever left the house, nor took an interest in worldly matters or events. She generally conversed very little with anyone, and never without a particular need. She was intimate only with the two daughters of Joseph. But when the time prophesied by the Prophet Daniel had come and when God was pleased to fulfill the promise made to Adam when He drove him out of Paradise, and to the Prophets, the Mighty Archangel Gabriel appeared in the chamber of the Most Holy Virgin, at the precise moment as some priestly writers have related that she was holding open on her lap the book of the Prophet Isaiah and pondering on his great prophecy: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son". Gabriel appeared to her in Angelic Light and said to her: "Rejoice, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee", and so forth, just as is related in the Gospel of the divine Luke. With this Angelic greeting and the descent of the Holy Spirit, the salvation of mankind and the renewal of creation were set in motion. The Archangel turned the first page of the story of the New Testament with the word 'Rejoice', to show by this the joy that the New Testament signifies for mankind and for all things created. And therefore the Annunciation is looked upon as a joyous, as well as a great, feast.

HOMILY

--on God's Almighty word.

'For with God nothing (that He says) shall be impossible' (St. Luke 1;37)

And God said: "Let there be light", and there was light until God spoke the word there was no light. Neither could anyone conceive of the nature of light until God spoke and light came to be. In the same way, when God spoke, the water and the dry land came into being, and the starry vault, the plants and the animals, and finally man. Until God spoke, there was nothing of all this, neither could anyone except God know what might exist. By the power of His word, God created all that was created in heaven and on earth. Whatever God wished to be and called into being, that had to be, and it was impossible for it not to be because the word of God is irresistible and creative. The creation of the world is a great miracle wrought by the Divine word.

Having created all things, God also established by His word the order and manner of existence of all things and their behavior and relationship one with another. And this order and manner of existence which God has established is a great miracle of the Divine word.

But as well as this order and manner of existence among created things, visible and comprehensible to us, there is an order and manner of existence unseen and incomprehensible. From this invisible and incomprehensible order and manner of existence, which is a mystery hidden in the Holy Trinity, there have occurred, and continue to occur, phenomena which people call miracles. One such phenomenon was the conception of our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of the Most Holy Virgin Mary, who had not known a man. This seems to be an interruption of the visible and comprehensible order and manner of existence, but it is not at all a strange event for the invisible and incomprehensible world. This birth is indeed a great wonder (miracle); perhaps no great wonder has ever been revealed to us mortals. But the entire created world is itself a miracle, and the entire visible and comprehensible order of things is a miracle, and just as this miracle came to be by the word of God, so in the same fashion the Lord took human form in a virgin's womb. Both the one and the other took place by the power of the word of God. Therefore the wondrous Gabriel replied to the Virgin's question (a question asked by all generations: 'How can this be?'): 'With God, nothing that He says shall be impossible.'

O Lord God, our Creator, eternal and ever-existent Worker of wonders (miracles), give light to our minds that we may no longer doubt but rather believe, and direct our tongues no longer to question Thee but to praise Thee. To Thee be glory and praise forever. Amen. (Source: The Prologue from Ochrid)

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It is meet indeed to bless Thee, the Ever-blessed and Most Pure and Mother of our God. Thee that art more honorable than the Cherubim, and incomparably more glorious than the Seraphim, who without spot of sin didst bear God the Logos/Word; Thee, verily the Mother of God, we magnify.

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"Glory Be To GOD For All Things!"--Saint John Chrysostomos

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With sincere agape in His Holy Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God

+ Father George