By Ma. Thelma A. Mendiola

When Fr. Jun Zurbano was about to commission the image of the Our Lady of the Annunciation, he realized that it would be difficult to put together in a carved image the Holy Spirit, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Angel Gabriel.  After praying for guidance, he thought it best to capture the beautiful event in a painting and asked Bro. Verny Tiamzon to sketch the images that took shape in his mind. With Architect Titus Aguirre’s help, painter Pancho Piano poignantly captured in canvass these images, thus, the beautiful painting of the mystery of Annunciation.

In the latter part of 1997, the painting was enshrined on the right altar of the Church and has drawn hundreds of devotees.

Done in full colors, the oil painting gives the impression that the painter wants to portray a modern day depiction of the Annunciation, but with a tinge of the traditional approach.  As one takes a closer look at the mystery that is captured on canvass, it establishes a special intimacy with the viewer that somehow transports one to actually be a witness to the event. While the portrayal of the Holy Spirit, the Angel Gabriel and the Blessed Virgin Mary are common in many paintings of the Annunciation, what is unusual in this icon is the presence of Jesus in the painting through the Holy Scriptures which is contained in John 1:1:  “In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  As one further meditates on the mystery, he is awed by the beautiful lady, young as she is, who gave her fiat to God and made possible the salvation of mankind.