Readings (Click the links to see the readings)

Isaiah 25.6-10a | Psalm 23 | Matthew 15.29-37 |

Annunciation
John Donne

Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He will wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceivst, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
Thou hast light in dark, and shutst in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.

Prayer

Omnipotent, ever-present, creator God,
whose beauty and goodness are manifested in the diversity of all of your creation,
grant to us your people that we may love the thing that you desire.
That among the differences and the many changes of the world today,
our hearts and minds may certainly be fastened on the joy, hope and love
granted us through the coming of your Son
and the fellowship of the Spirit.
Help us, O God, to know your will and by knowing it,
to dedicate ourselves to the advancement of your sovereignty,
where peace and love always reign. Amen.

Sawai Chinnawong, Annunciation to Mary (The Dove), 2008.

John Rutter. Mother of God, here I stand, Liberia choir (South London) from the album Eternal—The Best of Libera, 2009.

Mother of God, here I stand now praying,
Before this icon of your radiant brightness,
Not praying to be saved from a battlefield,
Not giving thanks, nor seeking forgiveness
For the sins of my soul, nor for all the souls.
Numb, joyless and desolate on earth,
But for her alone, whom I wholly give you.