Annunciation: After Filippo Lippi

The boy inclines his head, but looks.
She keeps a gaze fixed down
To touch her heart submissively.
The lily and the crown

Await. A garden wall extends
Beyond the curve of arch
That reaches round to hold them
In one still act.

A silence keeps
Watch like an open eye.
If there was a clock it would tick.
A world passes by.

The Annunciation

Silent whispers in an uncurled ear
A shaft of light
Announces
Strikes without sound to the core’s consent
A lift of sight
Awe stirs in an amazed womb

Above Poems by Edmund Matyjaszek, Ryde, Isle of Wight

Download PDF of this page 

The SOLEMNITY of The Annunciation

Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!
The Word became flesh, he lived among us and we saw his glory.
Praise to you, O Christ, King of eternal glory!

“I am the handmaid of the Lord”

The angel Gabriel was sent by God ‘Rejoice, so highly favoured! The Lord is with you’. She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean, but the angel said to her, ‘Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour. Listen! You are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus… ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord,’ said Mary, ‘let what you have said be done to me.’ And the angel left her.

The Magnificat – Mary’s Canticle:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on his humble servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed,
the Almighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his Name.
He has mercy on those who fear Him
in every generation.
He has shown the strength of his arm,
he has scattered the proud in their conceit.
He has cast down the mighty from their thrones,
and has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the help of his servant Israel
for he has remembered his promise of mercy,
the promise he made to our fathers,
to Abraham and his children for ever.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
As it was in the beginning is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
Amen.