MIDWEEK PRAYER

 Yesterday, our Church celebrated an event that changed everything.  The event is related in the gospel of Luke.  We call it the Annunciation (announcement).  An angel appeared to a teenage girl in Nazareth who had been promised in an arranged marriage to a man named Joseph.  Joseph was a woodworker and descendent of the House of King David.  The young girl accepted the invitation that the angel proposed.  She said, "I am the Lord's servant, may it happen to me as you have said."  Of course, her name was Mary.  The angel, in order to impress on Mary that what he was saying was true, disclosed that her very old aunt, Elizabeth, was six months pregnant.  Mary left immediately to see Elizabeth and to verify that it was true what the angel said.  When Mary got to Elizabeth's house in a different city, to visit and help her.  When Mary arrived, Elizabeth said in essence, "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among all women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."  We now say, "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death."