Holy Week and the Feast of the Annunciation

The Feast of the Annunciation, 2024

Monday in Holy Week

It’s a strange and wondrous thing that the Feast of the Annunciation falls during Holy Week this year.  That as we walk away from a road strewn with palm branches toward a holy meal and a shadowed garden and a hill far away, we hear again this story of angelic visitation.

We remember that Gabriel visits Mary with the news that she has been chosen to bear the Messiah into the world  (Luke 1: 26-38).  After some theological debate (how can this be?) Mary consents to God’s unique call on her life: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.  Let it be to me as you have said.”

If you know me at all, you know that The Annunciation and the Visitation of Mary to Elizabeth that follow are formative faith stories in my own life.  Through luminous art, through the writing of many, and through my own prayer, study, and meditation, these stories breathe their life into mine.

I’ve written fairly extensively about my encounters with the magnificent depiction of the Annunciation in the art of Henry Ossawa Tanner, in the permanent collection at the Philadelphia Art Museum. (See below)

But I’ve never held this story up next to Holy Week.  Until now.

I wonder about Mary as she was in the presence of Gabriel, delivering that news, and Mary at the foot of the cross watching her son die.   As she looked up at him, did she remember her “Here I am”?   As she listened to him direct her care to his friends, did she recall how frantically she and Joseph had searched for him in the Temple, or how they had presented him to Simeon and Anna?  Did she remember with chagrin how she and her other sons thought that he had lost his mind for going so directly against the Roman empire?  Look where this had gotten him. 

Some 34 years later, did the echo of Gabriel’s words bring her any comfort at all…The Lord is With You….Fear Not.

Regardless of where she found it, Mary’s strength of spirit – her boldness and courage – accompanied her in the reception of such astonishing news and went with her to the foot of the cross. 

May we find strength in her example – strength that will lift us up in this Holy Week and through all of our days.

The Annunciation

-Henry Ossawa Tanner