This year’s theme “Greetings blessed one, the Lord is with you” is centered around the angel Gabriel’s declaration over Mary as he shared the news that she was to be the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. The featured artwork for this year’s program is from a 19th-century icon, painted in a community south of Ukraine across the Black Sea in what is now the country of Turkey. In 1916, just 27 years after its making, the community from which it sprang suffered a genocide. This icon with all its beauty is somewhat of a refugee among us. As such its presence is a reminder of the tenaciousness of Christian hope.

This year’s theme “Greetings blessed one, the Lord is with you” is centered around the angel Gabriel’s declaration over Mary as he shared the news that she was to be the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. The featured artwork for this year’s program is from a 19th-century icon, painted in a community south of Ukraine across the Black Sea in what is now the country of Turkey. In 1916, just 27 years after its making, the community from which it sprang suffered a genocide. This icon with all its beauty is somewhat of a refugee among us. As such its presence is a reminder of the tenaciousness of Christian hope.