Tag Archives: Annunciation

Synergy of Hands and Words

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  • A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.
  • The elevation of the Host in a contemporary celebration of the Solemn Mass by Dominican religious.

Working together with God, then, we also entreat you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says: “In a favorable time I listened to you; on the day of salvation I helped you” (Isaiah 49:8). Behold, now it is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. (2 Cor. 6:1-2)

Synergountes de kai parakaloumen …. Synergy. Working together. Cooperation. We only experience “salvation” by working together with God. Any day we work together with him is the day of salvation.

Working together = cooperation with = synergy (fancy theological jargon)

Synergy = salvation

The classic, most clear example of synergy is the cooperation of the Mother of God with the request to bear the Word-made-flesh: “Be it unto me according to your word,” she answered the angel Gabriel. She cooperated with the request of God and the world was saved. If she had said “No,” we can only hope that God had a Plan B but there is no guarantee of that.

The Mother of God cooperated with God and the world was saved. We each personally make that salvation OURS when we approach the Holy Communion to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, harmonizing and uniting our Self with him. During the theological debates of what is the minimum necessary for an authentic celebration of the Eucharist, some said the Words of Institution (“This is my Body… Blood”) were the minimum necessary. Others said the invocation of the Holy Spirit (“Send down Your most holy Spirit to make this bread the Body of your Son ….”) was the minimum necessary.

What both sides presumed but never stated was that the priest also lent his hand to Christ to make the sign of the Cross over the Holy Gifts of bread and wine. The physical gesture was just as important–just as necessary–as the words theologians argued about. The priest’s hand had to cooperate/synergize with the words that he was saying and with the gestures that the Church expected him to make.

The priest’s gesture is as necessary as the priest’s words. That’s true for all of us. What we DO is just as important as what we say. “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?” (1 John 4:20)

“The Day of Resurrection…!”

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“Let us purify our senses and we shall see Christ shining in the unapproachable light of his Resurrection. We shall clearly hear him say, ‘Rejoice!’ as we sing the song of victory.” (Paschal Matins) A contemporary stained glass window depicts St. Thomas, who probes the wounds of the risen Christ. (St. Luke’s Church, Forest Hills; photo by S. Morris)

The gospel accounts in which Christ greets the Myrrhbearing Women at the tomb or the apostles in the Upper Room after his Resurrection tell us that his first word was, “Rejoice!” (Alas, too often modern English translations render this as “Greetings!”) This is also the first word Gabriel utters when he greets the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation: “Rejoice!” (We are more familiar with the Latin translation, “Ave!” which in English becomes, “Hail!”) The gospel, the “good news,” begins and ends with the same word and is summed up in this one word: Rejoice!

In the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, when the priest or deacon finish giving Holy Communion to the congregation, one of the prayers they say as they return to the altar is:

“O Christ our God, who art thyself the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets, who didst fulfill all the dispensation of the Father: fill our hearts with joy and gladness always, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen.”

In this short prayer, we greet Christ as the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, i.e. the entire Old Testament. He is what everyone in the Old Testament was expecting, waiting for, hoping for. As the fulfillment of all that had come before, he fulfilled the dispensation, i.e. the divine plan for salvation (Eph. 1:9-10; 3:9-11; 1 Tim. 1:3-4) which the Father had in mind since eternity. Receiving the gift of Holy Communion, we participate in this fulfillment. Our participation in Christ is the consummation of everything he did. In a real way, everything God did in the Old Testament and in the life-death-resurrection of Christ was in order to share Holy Communion with us. Having received Holy Communion, we are caught up in the divine joy and gladness–the divine love–for us, our neighbors, the entire world.

God is made flesh. Death is destroyed. What else can we do but rejoice?

Annunciation

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A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

A Coptic icon of the Annunciation, showing the angel Gabriel presenting a lily as he announces the Incarnation to the Mother of God.

 Lilies are often associated with the celebration of Annunciation. When Eve was driven from Paradise, lilies bloomed wherever her tears fell onto the earth and Gabriel presented lilies to the Virgin Mary when he announced that her Son would re-open Paradise to mankind. Other legends say that lilies blossomed from drops of milk from Hera’s breasts that fell upon the earth and that the lily was therefore the only flower with a soul. Lilies are traditionally considered to drive away ghosts and evil (esp. the Evil Eye) and can break love spells. The first lily of the season strengthens whoever finds it. 

Roses are also associated with Annunciation and are used to cast love spells or in healing magic. If you plant roses in your garden, they are said to grow best if you have stolen the seeds from someone else and will then attract the faerie folk.

The Annunciation is celebrated on March 25 (the traditional date of the springtime equinox). Not only was Annunciation — and the equinox — vital to keeping track of time for secular purposes, many ancient and medieval authors claimed that the Annunciation/equinox date were vital at many points of salvation history: the birthday of Adam and the Crucifixion were said to have occurred on March 25 as well. Some also said that March 25 marked the fall of Lucifer, the parting of the Red Sea, as well as the day on which God said, “Let there be light!”

Sometimes called “Lady Day,” the Annunciation was kept as New Year’s Day in many places; the last to give up Annunciation as the New Year’s Day was England and its American colonies in 1752. The correct synchronization of the equinox with the Annunciation is a critical element in the calculation of the date of Easter and the medieval and Renaissance disconnect between the Annunciation and the equinox prompted Pope Gregory XIII to reform the calendar in 1582.