"I am the Lord's servant. May your word to me be fulfilled."
Luke 1:38
Annunciation- by Caravaggio (found on wikiart.org)
This is the verse that you may have heard referred to as Mary's fiat. Each time this feast rolls around, and I reflect on the angel Gabriel's visit to Mary, I find myself thanking Mary (again and again) for saying yes to God's will in her life. Her yes made such a difference. I often find God's will hard to understand. Sometimes I just plain don't feel like doing it. But Mary shows us the way to respond. It's so simple. So ordinary. You just say yes. And let the Holy Spirit overshadow your life and work through you.
Since this feast often, usually, always? falls during Lent, we hardly ever plan anything other than to take a break from our Lenten fasts and dessert! Of course, dessert! And of course, we pray the Annunciation mystery of the Rosary.
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| original painting by Filippo Lippi and found on wikiart.org |
This year, I'm changing that. We will make it just a little more special. Because we as a human race should be super excited that Mary said Yes. Read the old testament. There are so many people saying no to God all throughout it. Even people like Adam and Eve, Moses, and David (who were incredibly close to God) said no at times. Then along comes Mary who says yes, so let's celebrate!!
1.Pregnancy Cravings
I have been pregnant 4 times, and have had an assortment of cravings throughout said pregnancies. Today we celebrate Annunciation, God becoming man. Mary had the privilege of carrying Jesus inside her for 9 months, so we are going to celebrate pregnancy by having a meal made up of some of foods I craved during my pregnancies. You could choose some foods from among the Top 20 Pregnancy Food Cravings. We will be having Greek food since that is what I craved all. the. time. in my last pregnancy. Additionally we will have coffee ice cream with crushed up oreos mixed into it. Another craving from last pregnancy.
2. Angel Food Cake
I know people who make Angel Food Cake (this looks like a great recipe) , but we aren't huge cake fans around here, so we'll stick with the ice cream. But maybe another year, I will because it's just so perfect. ANGEL food cake?!!
3. Prayers
When I studied in Austria, I used to attend the Noon Mass on weekdays. Just before they began Mass each day, they prayed the Angelus (see the image below). After I came back from my semester abroad I fell out of practice saying the Angelus each day at noon, but Kendra from CatholicAllYear.com posted this for the Feast of the Annunciation, and it occurred to me how easy it would be for the girls and I to start praying the Angelus daily. We have lunch nearly everyday at noon sharp. So at noon today, we knelt down and prayed the Angelus together. I can't wait to make this a daily prayer with my girls, and what better day to start than the Solemnity of the Annunciation?
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| image from CatholicAllYear.com |
Additionally, it's pretty awesome to pray at least a decade of the Rosary on this Solemnity of Mary. Say, the mystery of the Annunciation, perhaps? :) I loved reading Kendra's post about praying a family rosary both in the car and at home. Maybe we'll get brave and say the entire Rosary tonight.
The Cestello Annunciation by Sandro Botticelli (found on wikiart.org)
I just found out upon doing a little research that the Knights of Columbus celebrate this feast as the "International Day of the Unborn Child" so perhaps it might be nice to pray for the unborn and their mothers and fathers, that they would follow Mary's example and say Yes to the Lord.
4. Coloring Sheets
I found some nice coloring pages for the feast of the Annunciation here on Pinterest. I found one here as well, plus this site has all sorts of other coloring pages for other feasts, decades of the Rosary, Stations of the Cross etc.
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| image from familyfeastandferia.com |
5. Teaching Obedience
Mary's yes was her humble submission to God's will in her life. So I figured that we'd discuss and try to put into practice some humble obedience to our parents and to Our Heavenly Father around here. I found a few fun resources on Pinterest to help teach kids obedience.
And here are some great reads from CatholicAllYear.com about Obedience and Consistency
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