Be at my side →

In the Eastern Church, Catholic and Orthodox, the day after a major feast day is itself a special one. Known as the “leave-taking” of the feast, this day celebrates one or more of the saints who were involved in the event that the feast celebrates.

Thus March 26, the Leave-Taking of the Annunciation, is dedicated to the Archangel Gabriel, the messenger who announced to the Blessed Virgin Mary that God had chosen her to bear his son.

She said ‘yes’ →

At noon Rome time, 7 a.m. here in Huntington, Indiana, Catholics around the world joined Pope Francis in praying the Our Father for an end to the current pandemic. On this solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord, those words that we too often recite by rote took on a special meaning: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”