Reading: From the Gospelaccording to St. Luke 1: 26- 38

Dear andRespected Brethren,

As we all know the annunciation to St.Mary, Mother of God is observed on two Sundays of a year. The first one comesexactly on 25th March every year. There is no change for this dateat any cost. The other Sunday comes immediately after the Sunday on which theannunciation to Priest Zechariah is observed. And the date of this Sunday isnot fixed and it may vary year after year. The Holy Church observes the day ofannunciation to St. Mary with great significance and importance.

In the first three verses of today’sreading, we find “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from Godunto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin exposed to a man whose namewas Joseph of the house of David and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the Angelcame in unto her and said, Hail thou art highly favored the Lord is with thee;blessed art thou among women.”  In verse 32we hear the explanation of Angel Gabriel about the child to be born from St.Mary. Angel says: ‘He shall be great andHe shall be called the Son of theHighest.’ The term great literally means highly gifted, superior, noble,mighty, grand, important, excellent etc. The first alphabet of Great stands forGod. Lord Jesus is God in deed. Though He is full man, He is full God also. Heis God who incarnated and identified Himself with all natures of mankind exceptsin. He is our God for ever, we all are supposed to confess every day and atevery moment that He is our Lord and God. This sort of confession could be donein public or in private. Any way it is a must to do so.

The next alphabet of Great is ‘R’ whichstands for redeemer. Lord Jesus is the redeemer of all the mankind as well asthe other creations. Our Lord suffered the passions and sufferings for the sakeof redeeming the mankind. Lord is to be acknowledged as the redeemer of themankind. He forgives our sins and trespasses. He is the one who grand us theeternal life. The next alphabet ‘e’ stands for the everlasting life. Our Lordwas kind enough in sharing His own flesh and blood to all His followers toinherit the everlasting life with Him and in Him. He only promised theeverlasting life in Him provided we all might partake His life giving blood andflesh. He offered His blood as a ransom for the sins of mankind. Eternal oreverlasting life is the gift bestowed upon us by our Lord God. The nextalphabet a stands for adding. Every day he adds the faithful to His great nameof our God. In mathematics we use the sig\n/symbol of a cross to confirm theduty of adding one with another. . The last letter t stands for thetransformer. Lord Jesus transforms the sinners to real transformation. TheEastern Church Fathers are of the opinion that the incarnation of our Lord  achieved His aim of re-instating the mankindin God through His passions and death on the cross. God is willing to transformone and all of us. He needs our readiness and willingness only. Let us bow ourheads before God Almighty with our cent percent willingness.

In Philippians 2:10 we read, “That atthe name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things onearth, and things under the earth.” So great is His name, May God bless us all

Jose Kurian Puliyeril

Reading: From the Gospelaccording to St. Luke 1: 26- 38

Dear and Respected Brethren,

As we all know the annunciation to St.Mary, Mother of God is observed on two Sundays of a year. The first one comesexactly on 25th March every year. There is no change for this dateat any cost. The other Sunday comes immediately after the Sunday on which theannunciation to Priest Zechariah is observed. And the date of this Sunday isnot fixed and it may vary year after year. The Holy Church observes the day ofannunciation to St. Mary with great significance and importance.

In the first three verses of today’sreading, we find “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from Godunto a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin exposed to a man whose namewas Joseph of the house of David and the virgin’s name was Mary. And the Angelcame in unto her and said, Hail thou art highly favored the Lord is with thee;blessed art thou among women.”  In verse 32we hear the explanation of Angel Gabriel about the child to be born from St.Mary. Angel says: ‘He shall be great andHe shall be called the Son of theHighest.’ The term great literally means highly gifted, superior, noble,mighty, grand, important, excellent etc. The first alphabet of Great stands forGod. Lord Jesus is God in deed. Though He is full man, He is full God also. Heis God who incarnated and identified Himself with all natures of mankind exceptsin. He is our God for ever, we all are supposed to confess every day and atevery moment that He is our Lord and God. This sort of confession could be donein public or in private. Any way it is a must to do so.

The next alphabet of Great is ‘R’ whichstands for redeemer. Lord Jesus is the redeemer of all the mankind as well asthe other creations. Our Lord suffered the passions and sufferings for the sakeof redeeming the mankind. Lord is to be acknowledged as the redeemer of themankind. He forgives our sins and trespasses. He is the one who grand us theeternal life. The next alphabet ‘e’ stands for the everlasting life. Our Lordwas kind enough in sharing His own flesh and blood to all His followers toinherit the everlasting life with Him and in Him. He only promised theeverlasting life in Him provided we all might partake His life giving blood andflesh. He offered His blood as a ransom for the sins of mankind. Eternal oreverlasting life is the gift bestowed upon us by our Lord God. The nextalphabet a stands for adding. Every day he adds the faithful to His great nameof our God. In mathematics we use the sig\n/symbol of a cross to confirm theduty of adding one with another. . The last letter t stands for thetransformer. Lord Jesus transforms the sinners to real transformation. TheEastern Church Fathers are of the opinion that the incarnation of our Lord  achieved His aim of re-instating the mankindin God through His passions and death on the cross. God is willing to transformone and all of us. He needs our readiness and willingness only. Let us bow ourheads before God Almighty with our cent percent willingness.

In Philippians 2:10 we read, “That atthe name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things onearth, and things under the earth.” So great is His name, May God bless us all

Jose Kurian Puliyeril