Annunciation. Bright Monday

It is very rare that the Resurrection of Christ and the Annunciation coincide as they have done this year. And in a way it makes our joy even more full, more glorious, because we always think of the Mo­ther of God in the course of all the life of Christ, either reti­ring, being wonderful in Her silence, in Her veneration of the ways of God, in Her acceptance of the way of Christ which will lead Him to His Passion; we see Her by the Cross, we hear the promise given Her in the canon that, indeed, Weep not over Me, o Mother: I shall rise again… And yet, somewhere we remember the words of Symeon: A sword will pierce Thy heart… Today, as it were, the circle is complete; the Annunciation has been proclaimed, all things have been done, have happened, and the fulfillment of it is the Resurrec­tion; and the Resurrection coming just the day before the Annuncia­tion as it were wiping all tears, filling all twilight and darkness with the wonderful light of eternal life. And so we can rejoice, rejoice even more deeply, rejoice for Her, who has given us Her Son, that now She is, on the day of Her Annunciation, already in the certainty and glory of Her Son’s Resurrection.