Dear Parishioners,

Today is the Feast of the Annunciation. We celebrate the day on which the Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would be the Mother of God. Her “yes” allowed the Son of God to become an infant in her womb. The promise of God to give us Immanuel, God with us, is fulfilled. How I wish we could have Mass in the Church with a large crowd to celebrate this great day. Please set aside some time today to pray the Rosary. Today, it would be appropriate to pray the Joyful Mysteries.

Not much has changed from yesterday. The number of cases in Maryland has inched up to 439. Out of 4 million+ people in Maryland, this does not seem very significant. But, even though small, the number is still going up. We can pray that the number of cases levels off and begins to go down soon. We are all aware of what is happening in New York. I checked some other cities on the East Coast and the numbers are very low. Philadelphia has about 250 cases and Boston has fewer than 200. We can hope that the social distancing practices are having a big effect.

This afternoon the Catholic Schools office will have a webinar. I will listen in on that. The big topic will be whether schools will re-open on Monday. I’m sure we will be coordinating with the State Board of Education. An announement will have to come sooner rather than later, since, if schools are going to re-open, they would need lots of notice to allow for preparation.

Today, let us all pray the Angelus, the beautiful prayer of the Annunciation:

The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
And she conceived of the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.

Hail Mary…

And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.

Hail Mary…

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray:

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts; that we, to whom the incarnation of Christ, Thy Son, was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His Resurrection, through the same Christ Our Lord.

Amen.
God bless you all, Fr. LaHood