The Sunday of Annunciation to St. Mary. 23rd Nov

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Devotional Thoughts of the Sunday of Annunciation to St. Mary, Mother of God. 23rd Nov 08
Reading: From the Gospel according to St. Luke 1: 26-38

Dear and Respected Brethren,

It is needless to explain why the Holy Church is remembering the day of the most joyous news the world ever has heard. Every year we do observe the day of annunciation to St. Mary, Mother of God, on 25th March, in accordance with the possible date of the incident and again in the sequence of events of the Church calendar.

We must try to realize how enthusiastically the children of Abraham till then had waited for the message of the arrival of the Savior. Let us think what is our response to the observance of this great day. Does this make any impact in our personal spiritual lives? On this day we all must feel that we all are listeners of the glorious news and then only we could utilize the opportunity to nourish our spiritual growth. From the time of Adam, the mankind was waiting with great hope and thrill for the savior. It is said that almost all virgins of Israel had expected to be the mother of the Savior of the entire mankind and the universe. But the great fortune was granted to virgin St. Mary, who was selected by God Almighty as a part and parcel of His wonderful master plan of salvation. Today we are supposed to meditate on the way how St. Mary was intimated by God about His plan. As we read in verse 26 of today's reading, God had deputed Angel Gabriel to convey His message. Angel reached the city of Galilee, named Nazareth. (Nazareth literally means flower) God selected a virgin who was brought up in a city which had the odor and simplicity of an attractive flower. This incident has a reference in the prophecy of Isaiah. (Chapter 7: verse 14)

The message conveyed by the Angel is so significant. "Hail, thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women." Highly favored means graciously accepted or much graced. In our spiritual lives we also must long for these two blessings. 1) To get highly favored from God Almighty and 2) to get the abide ness with God, our savior and redeemer. We will have to achieve full freedom from our selfish motives, desires and thoughts. Now we could find the extreme influence of selfishness in every sphere of life. We are supposed to realize the influence of selfishness, which invites the domination of all sorts of evils in our everyday life. The selfishness is there in the spiritual lives also as in the secular lives. It is distracting the mankind from the God's dwelling. So let us all try to get freedom from selfish desires and thoughts.

In verse 31 and 32 we find the real words of Annunciation of the incarnation of the Savior, who shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. In verse 34 we listen to the innocent question of St. Mary who was so young in those days: "How this shall be, seeing I know not a man?"
The answer from the angel is very significant. We must also take this as the base of our faith. May God bless us all.

Jose Kurian Puliyeril
Kottayam