How Do You Plan To Celebrate the Annunciation?

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Since the Solemnity of the Annunciation, this coming Saturday, is not just any day on the Church calendar, what plans does your parish have to make it special?
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Even though it is no longer a Holy Day of Obligation, do you      always want to go to Mass anyway, to welcome the Word-made-Flesh as He comes into the world?
Does your Respect Life group do anything special to take advantage of the natural tie-in between the Conception of Jesus and the fight against abortion? (If not, how is it not be hypocritical and how can we expect to be taken seriously about our belief that life begins at conception when we don’t even celebrate the conception of the One Who gave us life/Life?)

Does your grade school do anything special to bring it home to your children that, for Jesus just as for us, life begins at conception and that that should be a very joyous occasion?

Does your parish still consider the Annunciation to be a Feast of Mary rather than a Feast of Jesus? Is Mary’s Fiat the entire subject of your homily rather than also focusing on the fulfillment of the world’s centuries of waiting for its Savior; Jesus’ obedience to the Father; the role of the Holy Spirit; the beginning of the Church in the Body of Jesus; the perfect quiet of the Feast with the unheard songs of the Angelic choirs; the joy of the Souls of the deceased, who have been waiting for so long, that the gates of heaven will soon be opened to them?

Do you have music (there is music specifically for the Feast and Christmas music is also appropriate) and flowers (especially those that, throughout the centuries, have been connected with Mary) and a procession (one model is for children to carry flowers to Mary’s altar)?

It will be interesting to see how different parishes/dioceses celebrate.

Ginger
 
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Brownginger:
Since the Solemnity of the Annunciation, this coming Saturday, is not just any day on the Church calendar, what plans does your parish have to make it special?
Code: 
Even though it is no longer a Holy Day of Obligation, do you      always want to go to Mass anyway, to welcome the Word-made-Flesh as He comes into the world?
Does your Respect Life group do anything special to take advantage of the natural tie-in between the Conception of Jesus and the fight against abortion? (If not, how is it not be hypocritical and how can we expect to be taken seriously about our belief that life begins at conception when we don’t even celebrate the conception of the One Who gave us life/Life?)

Does your grade school do anything special to bring it home to your children that, for Jesus just as for us, life begins at conception and that that should be a very joyous occasion?

Does your parish still consider the Annunciation to be a Feast of Mary rather than a Feast of Jesus? Is Mary’s Fiat the entire subject of your homily rather than also focusing on the fulfillment of the world’s centuries of waiting for its Savior; Jesus’ obedience to the Father; the role of the Holy Spirit; the beginning of the Church in the Body of Jesus; the perfect quiet of the Feast with the unheard songs of the Angelic choirs; the joy of the Souls of the deceased, who have been waiting for so long, that the gates of heaven will soon be opened to them?

Do you have music (there is music specifically for the Feast and Christmas music is also appropriate) and flowers (especially those that, throughout the centuries, have been connected with Mary) and a procession (one model is for children to carry flowers to Mary’s altar)?

It will be interesting to see how different parishes/dioceses celebrate.

Ginger
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Here in Sydney our Archdiocese has organised a ‘Day of the Unborn Child’, there’s going to be a special Mass and parade - don’t know what else is planned but I’ll be there front and centre - should be interesting.
 
The local Knights of Columbus Council usually holds a Mass, rosary and Eucharistic procession at one of the parishes. I like going to that. It’s pretty cool. Last year there were a lot of young pretty Polish ladies there which really made it worthwhile, too! 😃
 
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Brownginger:
Even though it is no longer a Holy Day of Obligation, do you always want to go to Mass anyway, to welcome the Word-made-Flesh as He comes into the world?
Click to expand...
The Feast of the Annunciation is STILL a Holy Day of Obligation in the Eastern Rites of the Church, EVEN last year when it fell on Great and Holy Friday…:bowdown:

Here where I live, it used to be a State Holiday and all State Offices where closed. Unfortunately, that was stopped about 10yrs ago and we were given a personal leave day… oh, well…:rolleyes:
 
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Brownginger:
Does your parish still consider the Annunciation to be a Feast of Mary rather than a Feast of Jesus?
Click to expand...
the name of the Solemnity is the Annunciation of the Lord and Mary was the recipient of the good news as well as the key player in the fulfillment of the revelation transmitted by the angel.
 
The Annunciation is, in fact, like the Presentation/Purification, in that it is a feast both of Our Lord and of Our Lady.
 
Of course the Annunciation is a feast of the Blessed Virgin as well as of Jesus. Without Mary, there would have been no feast at all, and no salvation. My principal concern is that the majority of priests today still regard the feast *solely * as one of Mary and Her Fiat.

In the early centuries of the Church, the Annunciation was celebrated for Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Spirit. Then, in order to fight the heresy concerning mankind’s Free Will, the Church made the Feast one solely to teach the Faithful about Free Will through the example of Mary. There no longer is great need to teach the doctrine of Free Will; there is, however, great need to consider the totality of the events of the Annunciation and to give proper thanks to the Father, to greet Jesus, and to study the relationship between God the Holy Spirit and one member of the human race, Mary, the Mother of God.

It is so amazing that so many people are instantly defensive of the role played by the young Jewish maiden at the announcement of Jesus Coming. Mary was the instrumentality through which Jesus was born on Christmas; yet on the commemoration of that Day, we give primary praise to Her Divine Son. Why, then, should the Conception of Jesus be any different? Mary Herself would be the first one to say to us, “My children, you all can see how great are the effects of the grace of the Almighty and that you should give me great honor for my unhesitant compliance with the will of our Father. But it is my Son to whom you should give the greatest praise on this glorious day.”

On the Annunciation, we genuflect during the words of the Credo that describe the Word becoming Flesh and dwelling among us. We do not genuflect because of the role of His Mother, but for the fact that God became Man! Giving due praise to Jesus as He enters the created world cannot detract from the wondrous beauty of the soul of His Mother. The sad fact remains that we are required to attend Mass on the day the Church celebrates the conception of Mary (for good reason), yet we are barely taught anything about the day the Church celebrates the conception of Jesus! There are no notes in most parish bulletins, there is no excitement within the members of the clergy; there is much confusion within many members of the Body of Christ as to just what the Day is all about.

It has become common that the Church has given over to the Feast of Christmas all celebration of the Incarnation. That deprives us of an incredible amount of grace in sharing one of the very greatest days that ever occurred in the history of the world and of the Church itself! The Birth of Jesus, the day mankind first beheld the Face of God, was the second milestone in the Life of Jesus. We in the Holy Roman Catholic Church in America have thrown aside our recognition of the first milestone and the event without which there would have been no others. The bishops and priests do not give the Faithful in America credit for having sufficient piety to be able to have a dual celebration of the Incarnation. It is time that we are given the opportunity to show our devotion to Jesus, as well as to Our Mother and His.

Many times in the history of the Church it has been the Faithful who have brought about changes. If the bishops and the clergy are determined to ignore the complete Truth about the Annunciation, it is up to us to demand that there be a suitable celebration of the Conception of Jesus. We can take up a collection for musicians to play; we can bring our own flowers; if we are not satisfied with the message of the priest-celebrant, we should charitably urge a change for next year. The first and greatest thing that we can do to bring about the Truth is to attend Mass; even if we go empty-handed, if our hearts are full of love at the wonder of the Love of God, our souls will be filled with Love just as was Our Blessed Lady. If the churches are packed with those who want to greet Our Savior, the message will be received by the pastors, who will in turn give that message to their bishops.
 
The Feast of the Annunciation should be given the same reverance as Christmas and Easter. The Eastern Churches do so.

I intend to go to Mass.

*Ave Maria, gratia plena! Dominus tecum.

*And with these words, the Savior would come to us.
 
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