Annunciation

Hi everyone,

Blessed Annunciation to you!

I really wanted write something meaningful and thoughtful about this day in our liturgical year, and in our life on earth.  Then a friend mentioned she needed groceries, and she's older and we didn't want her to go to the store, so we shopped and delivered food instead.  The day got away, and now it's almost time for Vespers and then a Companions meeting.  I thought of just doing a puzzle.

But it's the Annunciation: one of the days we hear an angel say, "Don't be afraid."  And we hear a human being say, "OK, do it."  (Or, "let it be unto me according to your word" - same thing.)  So I have to at least say hello.

And, not exactly "Don't be afraid."  There's a healthy fear, respect for the power of nature and the power of God.  There's holy awe, the awareness of our fragility and limitation.  We are all in touch with our mortality in a new way: not only our own eventual death, but the death of others, of those we love, those we care for, those we share the planet with.  There's social and economic death.  There's plenty to fear, as there was for Mary.

And yet God is indeed here, planting new seeds of life.  The seeds may look fragile next to the devastation, but in the end the seeds will overgrow the devastation.  God's love is bigger, more resilient, more virulent than any virus.  Our part is to marvel, to wonder, and to say yes to our part in God's work of planting.

Today, I invite you to say yes.  Yes to helping your neighbors, whether by active contribution or by staying away.  Yes to not giving in to panic.  Yes to loving God and others.  Yes to finding ways to reach out and dig deep.  Say yes.

You too are a God-bearer.  The Divine Spirit dwells in you.  Thanks be to God!