Offsite Post: ‘From the Day of Roe to the Day of Annunciation’

The Jubilee Year came a year early for the unborn in the States (see Leviticus 25).  After almost 50 years of legalized slaughter, the federal Supreme Court reversed its horrible Roe v Wade decision in 2022.  Having achieved this momentous goal with God’s help, pro-life activists must now change their focus but not lose their zeal.

They must not lose their zeal, for the pro-death faction is finding new ways to murder the unborn, whether mobile abortion clinics, or mail-order abortion-inducing drugs, etc.  Despite abortion bans of various strictness going into effect in several States, we are forced to agree with Mr Bradley Devlin when he wrote, ‘ . . . abortion on an industrial scale continues apace across the country.’

Continued zeal is therefore necessary, but where to direct it?  Marching, rallying, etc., each January will be akin to whipping a dead horse now that Roe has been overturned.  The horrors of that ruling should be remembered each year, much like the horrors of communism are now being remembered on 7 November.  But this is the negative side of the task, the reminder of what we must not do anymore.

There must be a positive side as well.  And we will find part of that in moving the focus of pro-lifers from January 22^nd to March 25^th, the Feast of the Annunciation.  This Feast of the Church celebrates the visit of the Archangel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary in which he announces to her that she has been chosen to be the Mother of our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.  When she humbly gives her ascent to God’s will, then she conceives the Lord Jesus Christ in her holy womb through the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost (all of which is recounted in St Luke’s Gospel 1:26-38).  A compendium of information about this Feast Day is available here.

The significance for defenders of the unborn is not difficult to see:  In celebrating the conception of the Lord Jesus on Annunciation Day, we proclaim in a compelling and unique way that all human life begins at conception.  This is largely why March 25^th should be the new focal point of pro-life advocates.

Beginning today, they should ask State legislators and governors with great urgency to make the Annunciation a holiday of the same prominence as Christmas and Easter.  In the economy of man’s salvation, it is certainly just as significant.  One of the hymns for the Feast words it this way:

‘Today is the beginning of our salvation, / the revelation of the eternal mystery! / The Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin / as Gabriel announces the coming of Grace. / Together with him let us cry to the Theotokos: / Hail, O Full of Grace, / the Lord is with You!’

In its antiquity, it is one of the oldest Feasts celebrated by the Church.  The earliest surviving image depicting the event is from the 2^nd century in one of the Roman catacombs; a sermon on the Feast by St Gregory the Wonderworker of Neocaesarea dates from the 3^rd century.

Making a holiday of the Annunciation would promote two interrelated goals:  advancing a pro-life culture and strengthening a Christian ethos in society.  The Church has been on the decline recently because of the cultural power that we have allowed certain elites who oppose Christianity to accumulate in corporations, courts, schools, media, and so forth (though internal corruption has contributed in no small measure to the decline).  Christians can no longer adopt a relaxed attitude toward this.  They must find ways to fight against and weaken un-Christian forces in society.  Government action is not the ultimate solution for the Church’s woes, but it can help (as Rod Dreher has said).  Adding a new Christian holiday to our calendars would certainly be beneficial; it would put at the center of everyone’s attention on that day a momentous event in Church history, in world history.

At the same time, as we said above, it draws attention in a powerful way to the truth that life begins at conception.  Thus, two good goals achieved by establishing one new holiday (it would also go a long way in exalting chastity and motherhood).

Happily, in this endeavor we would not be building entirely from scratch.  Celebrating the Annunciation as a pro-life holiday has been an ongoing endeavor for decades.  The organization Priests for Life gives details:

 . . .

The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2022/11/garlington-from-the-day-of-roe-to-the-day-of-annunciation/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!