The Annunciation is “the beginning of our salvation and the revelation of the mystery which is from eternity: the Son of God becometh the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel proclaimed good tidings of grace” (Troparion of the Feast of the Annunciation). The divine will has been declared and proclaimed by the archangel. But the Virgin was not silent. She responded to the divine call, responded in humility and faith. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”
“During the days of the creation of the world, when God uttered his living and mighty words: “Let there be,“ the Creator’s words brought creatures into existence. But on the day, unique in the existence of the world, when Holy Mary uttered her humble and obedient Let it be, I would hardly dare to express what took place then — the word of the creature caused the Creator to descend into the world. God uttered his word here also: You “will conceive in your womb and bear a son . . . he will be great . . . and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever.” But again that which is divine and incomprehensible occurs–the Word of God itself defers its action, allowing itself to be delayed by the word of Mary: How can this be? Her humble Let it be was necessary for the realization of God’s mighty Let it be. What secret power is thus contained in these simple words: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your will” — that it produces an effect so extraordinary? This marvelous power is Mary’s pure and perfect self-dedication to God, a dedication of her will, of her thought, of her soul, of her entire being, of all her faculties, of all her actions, of all her hopes and expectations.” [Choix de Sermons et Discourse de S. Em. Mgr. Philarete, Metropolite de Moscow].
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