The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

A great and wondrous mystery is celebrated today; God is made man assuming mortal flesh in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. A new thing is done in both natures. That which was, remained. That which was not, he assumed; suffering neither confusion nor division. Those two natures are,

…the divine and the human, being and non-being, “that which was” and “that which was not”, the All (Logos) and the Void (Sophia).

Alan Watts, Myth and Ritual in Christianity, footnote 2, p. 118.

The Collect

We beseech thee, O Lord, pour thy grace into our hearts; that, as we have known the incarnation of thy Son Jesus Christ by the message of an angel, so by his cross and passion we may be brought unto the glory of his resurrection: through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

Book of Common Prayer

fiat mihi secundum verbum tuum.

Luke 1: 38

I do not think the mystery of the Incarnation has been more beautifully expressed in the English language than in the poetry of 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’ll 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 conceivest, conceived; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother.
Thou hast light in dark, and shutt’st in little room
Immensity, cloistered in thy dear womb.

John Donne, La Corona, verse 2

Magnificat

Ave Maria

Hail Mary, full of grace,

the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou amongst women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God,

pray for us sinners,

now and at the hour of our death. Amen.