The Feast of the Annunciation is the day when God's promise for the salvation of the human soul from the eternal torments of darkness is fulfilled. Its message is that God loves us, says Father Bozhidar Marinov from the "Exaltation of the Holy Cross of the Lord" church in Sofia. To feel this all-forgiving love, we only need to accept it. This is also the essence of the Good News that the Blessed Virgin Mary receives from Archangel Gabriel, who came to announce to her that she is the chosen one among women to give birth to the Savior.

"This is a great and wonderful feast, in which the Church celebrates that joyful and mysterious event, which cannot fit into the mind and logic of our world and somehow transcends beyond. But with our faith, even though small and feeble, we still try to touch this miraculous event when the angel, sent by the Lord, announces the Good News to the Mother of God. This is the beginning of the salvation that God promised from the beginning of time, when our ancestors Adam and Eve sinned. For us, this  feast gives us the comfort that God is provident."

In church tradition, the bright Christian feast of the Annunciation is celebrated as Mother's Day. It is a symbol of the good news and the new spiritual beginning that restores the connection with the Creator through the Virgin Mary. She is chosen as the purest among virgins, and motherhood through her becomes divinely blessed. In this way, God elevates women as life-givers.

"The Most Holy Theotokos can be called the mother of the new Creation – the Creation in Christ. From the Theotokos, from one human person, the new Adam – Christ – is born. In fact, in the face of the Theotokos, God washes away the sin inherited from our foremother, Eve. Thus, He shows that this can only be accomplished through the woman, who, throughout her entire life, lived without a trace of that sin. Through the Theotokos, He restores the dignity of the woman and the dignity of humanity''.

Father Bozhidar's wish to all those celebrating the Feast of the Annunciation is to continue sharing this Good News that the Theotokos receives:

"Let us not grow weary of the joy that the Good News gives us. And the Good News is that God loves us, and nothing else in this world matters more. Because we must, through our way of life as Christians, as Orthodox Christians who have accepted God into our hearts, constantly spread this Good News. For if we think about the fact that God loves us, we will not despair; no difficulties would stop us from rejoicing in this spiritual joy of God."