Lady Day

Today is the feast of the Annunciation.

Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is All everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
So, faithful Virgin, yields himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though he there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet he'll wear
Taken from thence, flesh, which death's force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in his mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceiv'st, conceive'd; yea, thou art now
Thy Maker's maker, and thy Father's mother;
Thou hast light in dark and shut'st in little room
Immensity, cloistered in thy dear womb.
-Dr John Donne (1571-1631)

From the March 2011 number of Contra Mundum, the monthly letter of the Congregation of St Athanasius.