This year, the Annunciation of The Lord (which usually occurs exactly nine months before Christmas on 25th March for obvious reasons) has been moved to Monday 8th April (or Low Monday in the old parlance). This is because whenever the Annunciation occurs during Holy Week, it is moved into the Easter Season, so that we can properly celebrate this important feast.
I personally believe it would be more authentic not to move it, because there is a long tradition of Jesus having died and been conceived on the same day, 25th March, which was the Roman date of the Spring Equinox, so it should be seen as auspicious if the Annunciation falls close to Easter. For some of the history of this, read here, concentrating on the Christian bits:
https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/how-december-25-became-christmas/
and also here:
https://aclerkofoxford.blogspot.com/2016/03/this-doubtful-day-of-feast-or-fast-good.html
The earliest account is from an anonymous writer from North Africa in a treatise On Solstices and Equinoxes:
Therefore our Lord was conceived on the eighth of the kalends of April in the month of March [March 25], which is the day of the passion of the Lord and of his conception. For on that day he was conceived on the same he suffered.
At any rate, the main point of this post is to announce that we will have Mass for the Solemnity of the Annunciation at 6 p.m. at the Presbytery on Monday 8th. Deo gratias!


