Lent Day 21: Lady Day

When I find myself in times of trouble...

I'm going to tell you these things in the order in which I learned them. 

Growing up Catholic, of course I knew that March 25 was the Feast of the Annunciation of Gabriel to Mary. It was the first Joyful Mystery of the rosary, and I inherited my love of the rosary and of Mary from my mother. (She stopped going to church, but she never stopped saying the rosary.)

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
~Luke 1:26-28

At some point it occurred to me that, of course, someone did the math and counted nine months backwards from Christmas.

Nope.

Rather, I learned that March 25 was celebrated as the day of the conception of Jesus Christ very early in church history. The reason for this was that the church, from its very earliest days, marked March 25 as the date of the crucifixion. 

I did not understand. Why should these be the same day? Wasn't that some kind of crazy coincidence?

No. It was, rather, trust in the consistency of God's designs for humankind. If the crucifixion took place on March 25, it stood to reason that it was also the date of Christ's conception, because it was the day chosen by God to be the day of salvation. God's purposes were being worked out in creation on this very day, whether that was by Christ's crucifixion or his conception... or even the creation of all things. Yes, there is also an ancient tradition that March 25 was the first day of creation.

Finally, I was today years old when I learned that, for nearly 600 years, March 25 was New Year's Day for the British Empire, also known as Lady Day. (Thanks so much Cody!).

So, a blessed day of Annunciation to you all, and a blessed remembrance of the first Good Friday. However it was done, by whatever method or design, today is a day to recall God's overflowing love for us.

Enjoy this, my favorite rendition of Mary's magnificent song, the Magnificat.