22 March 2011

REMINDER: Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord

will be celebrated at St. Paul's this Friday at 6 p.m.

"Our churches teach that the Word, that is the Son of God, assumed the human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary." AC III:1

From the Treasury:

For the holy Virgin is truly an ark, made with gold within and without, who has received the whole treasury of the Holy of Holies.  "Arise, O Lord, into Your rest."  Arise, O Lord, out of the bosom of the Father, in order that You may raise up the fallen race of the first man. -- St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (p. 1287)

O Lord, as we have known the incarnation of Your Son, Jesus Christ, by the message of the angel to the Virgin Mary, so by the message of His cross and passion bring us to the glory of His resurrection; through the same, Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever!

5 comments:

123 said...

Does the Latin (or Lutheran) tradition start the liturgical day with the evening or the morning? That is, is this festal celebration on Friday or Saturday, liturgically?

Trent said...

From that same homily....

Hail, thou that art highly favored, the fountain of the light that lightens all who believe upon Him!

Hail, thou that art highly favored, the rising of the rational Sun, and the undefiled flower of Life!

Hail, thou that art highly favored, the mead of sweet savour!

Hail, thou that art highly favored, the ever-blooming vine, that makes glad the souls of those who honor thee?

Hail, thou that art highly favored!-the soil that, all untilled, bears bounteous fruit: for thou hast brought forth in accordance with the law of nature indeed, as it goes with us, and by the set time of practice, and yet in a way beyond nature, or rather above nature, by reason that God the Word from above took His abode in thee, and formed the new Adam in thy holy womb, and inasmuch as the Holy Ghost gave the power of conception to the holy virgin; and the reality of His body was assumed from her body.

First Homily on the Annunciation to the Holy Virgin Mary. ST. GREGORY THE WONDERWORKER

William Weedon said...

meixiopp,

Lutherans recognize that the liturgical day starts at sunset, but the feast is usually celebrated on the day, rather than the eve.

Trent,

Beautiful stuff, no? The Treasury gives more also.

Trent said...

Pastor Weedon,
I love it, but do you even find the sermon to be Christian? Let us recall that it was proclaimed on this blog by a Lutheran, “The problem is that Orthodox sermons are not Christian sermons if they don't proclaim the cross. It's that simple.” Well if it’s that simple, then this sermon fails to even be Christian because it never mentions the cross or our redemption through the cross. The closest it comes to our redemption is actually linking the incarnation with our redemption ("Today (in the incarnation) is Adam made anew"), not the cross.

So what say you, does this pass the Christian test?

Does this pass the Lutheran test? (“Orthodox sermons may be fine by Orthodox standards; but if they fail to proclaim the cross, they fail by Lutheran standards. Quote from Pastor Weedon)”

William Weedon said...

As a meditation upon the Annunciation specifically it is beautiful - and he gives much more than either you or I have quoted here, marveling at the humiliation. Would I look for more in a sermon upon the day? You betcha. I'd look for the connection to the Cross - and it's readily at hand if one moves from the "what" to the "why" of the Incarnation. How did St. Athanasius put it? That He might borrow death from us? But St. Gregory's sermon abides in the "what" and that I think is problematic for those who, as St. Paul said, would "know nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified." So beautiful as it is, it could even be better! Do you not agree?