WEBVTT 00:00:00.970 --> 00:00:04.110 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 00:00:04.110 --> 00:00:07.929 of the Holy Spirit, I greet you, brothers and 00:00:07.929 --> 00:00:10.929 sisters, those here, the few that are here, and 00:00:10.929 --> 00:00:15.650 those who are at home. I greet you with the joy 00:00:15.650 --> 00:00:22.170 of the feast. The end of summer approaches, although 00:00:22.170 --> 00:00:25.670 the days are not getting any cooler, the skies 00:00:25.670 --> 00:00:28.629 are not getting any clearer, and probably won't 00:00:28.629 --> 00:00:33.149 for a bit. We all had expectations for September, 00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:37.689 probably for August, July, and June, too. Certainly 00:00:37.689 --> 00:00:40.469 expectations for the end of summer, the beginning 00:00:40.469 --> 00:00:44.250 of the school year. The beginning of so many 00:00:44.250 --> 00:00:48.549 activities in our society. Those expectations 00:00:48.549 --> 00:00:53.729 have not come to pass. Maybe they're more serious, 00:00:53.750 --> 00:00:58.270 personal expectations and hopes that did not 00:00:58.270 --> 00:01:01.439 come to pass. Maybe there were prayers that were 00:01:01.439 --> 00:01:05.239 not answered. They were said over and over again. 00:01:05.819 --> 00:01:11.579 And you felt God did not respond. But our life 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:14.959 is charged with God's grace. He always responds, 00:01:15.280 --> 00:01:17.739 just not in the way we expect him sometimes. 00:01:18.599 --> 00:01:22.799 The end of August is also not just the end of 00:01:22.799 --> 00:01:25.459 summertime activities. It's the end of the church 00:01:25.459 --> 00:01:28.920 year. The Dormition of the Theotokos, which you 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:33.219 see depicted as you leave the church, just passed, 00:01:33.459 --> 00:01:35.280 that feast just passed, the beheading of St. 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.920 John the Baptist, that feast just passed. They're 00:01:38.920 --> 00:01:44.500 glorious, yes, glorious reminders of our own 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:52.780 death, death as Christians who await, who look 00:01:52.780 --> 00:01:57.930 for, anticipate. Yes, and desire, desire the 00:01:57.930 --> 00:02:02.150 coming of Christ in glory and our own glorification 00:02:02.150 --> 00:02:07.269 into a mortal life at the resurrection. That's 00:02:07.269 --> 00:02:09.629 how the church year relates to us at the end. 00:02:11.330 --> 00:02:13.569 And September is not just the beginning of the 00:02:13.569 --> 00:02:15.810 school year and activities that aren't going 00:02:15.810 --> 00:02:20.469 to happen as normal, but it's the beginning of 00:02:20.469 --> 00:02:26.199 the church year. And those... That grace, that 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:30.199 will always come. Nothing in this world can stop 00:02:30.199 --> 00:02:37.240 that. So today is a pivotal day. Yes, I use the 00:02:37.240 --> 00:02:40.500 word pivotal. A pivot is when you can push off 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:43.740 on one foot and go forward, like a skier or a 00:02:43.740 --> 00:02:48.939 basketball player, using the body to accomplish 00:02:48.939 --> 00:02:53.590 what he or she wants. Today is pivotal. If we 00:02:53.590 --> 00:03:00.289 allow. Father Seraphim, I think his name is Father 00:03:00.289 --> 00:03:02.990 Seraphim, he's the abbot of the Monastery of 00:03:02.990 --> 00:03:05.090 the Holy Cross in West Virginia. He describes 00:03:05.090 --> 00:03:08.789 the liturgical new year by saying that our life 00:03:08.789 --> 00:03:12.689 is mystically orchestrated and harmonized with 00:03:12.689 --> 00:03:16.169 the church's calendar. And we're greeted today. 00:03:16.569 --> 00:03:20.030 We're greeted. Today, with the first feast of 00:03:20.030 --> 00:03:22.569 the church new year, the nativity, the birthday 00:03:22.569 --> 00:03:27.310 of the mother of our life and salvation, she 00:03:27.310 --> 00:03:30.210 is the hymn, say, the beginning of our beginning. 00:03:31.110 --> 00:03:34.509 She is the birth giver of the birthless one. 00:03:35.310 --> 00:03:40.150 She is the cause of our cause, the beginning 00:03:40.150 --> 00:03:46.750 of the beginningless one. At any feast, The church 00:03:46.750 --> 00:03:51.810 is inviting us to consider that we are not spectators. 00:03:52.150 --> 00:03:56.569 We're not just listeners to events that happen 00:03:56.569 --> 00:04:01.250 historically, but are kind of far from us. How 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:05.789 are we to be participants? What is the key? The 00:04:05.789 --> 00:04:09.770 liturgy, the vigils, the grace of God, Christ. 00:04:10.409 --> 00:04:12.729 who considered not robbery to be equal to the 00:04:12.729 --> 00:04:15.689 Father, made himself the same as us. He became 00:04:15.689 --> 00:04:20.110 incarnate and he entered into this world. He 00:04:20.110 --> 00:04:23.709 became a man. He became a servant. And the death 00:04:23.709 --> 00:04:26.589 on the cross and the resurrection and the ascension 00:04:26.589 --> 00:04:30.490 into heaven, because we are given the Holy Spirit, 00:04:30.629 --> 00:04:37.230 enliven us and make those events, even the birth 00:04:37.230 --> 00:04:41.759 of the Virgin Mary, have grace that reaches out 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.360 to anyone who reaches out to Christ. It is a 00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:51.519 reality. It's not a footnote in a historical 00:04:51.519 --> 00:05:00.519 book. There's power. There's meaning. There's 00:05:00.519 --> 00:05:04.500 relevance of that thing that happened. which 00:05:04.500 --> 00:05:07.639 is always happening to those who come to Christ, 00:05:07.699 --> 00:05:12.139 who are being reborn by him and his power. They 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:16.300 don't have a use -by date. Nativity, Pascha, 00:05:16.459 --> 00:05:19.279 Pentecost, Ascension, Annunciation, yes, the 00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:22.360 birthday of the Virgin Mary, today's feast, are 00:05:22.360 --> 00:05:25.339 all initiated by God, part of his providence, 00:05:25.379 --> 00:05:30.839 and very importantly, very importantly, received 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:37.480 and welcomed and sought. by those like us, human 00:05:37.480 --> 00:05:42.000 beings, who want to know God, who are illumined 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:49.079 by the knowledge of the Lord's incarnation. This 00:05:49.079 --> 00:05:53.600 invitation today, the Nativity of the Theotokos, 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:58.040 is about a birthday. The birthday is the beginning. 00:05:58.620 --> 00:06:03.490 We begin the church year with the birthday. And 00:06:03.490 --> 00:06:08.069 we might, because of this feast day, we might 00:06:08.069 --> 00:06:12.269 have a new beginning too. A renewal in our faith, 00:06:12.329 --> 00:06:17.550 a rebirth, if you will. But in order for us to 00:06:17.550 --> 00:06:21.649 experience that rebirth, we need to be reminded 00:06:21.649 --> 00:06:28.550 about two things. That we need to begin again. 00:06:28.550 --> 00:06:32.370 We need it. We need. We have an inner sense. 00:06:33.569 --> 00:06:39.550 And secondly, when we experience failure, when 00:06:39.550 --> 00:06:42.009 it seems that God does not answer our prayers, 00:06:42.089 --> 00:06:47.470 we again need to be reminded to know that God, 00:06:47.589 --> 00:06:52.310 with God, all things are possible and that we 00:06:52.310 --> 00:06:58.009 can be renewed. Sarah, the old lady, conceives 00:06:58.009 --> 00:07:01.720 and bears a child. Hannah, the one unable to 00:07:01.720 --> 00:07:05.959 bear a child, conceives and bears Samuel, the 00:07:05.959 --> 00:07:11.839 prophet. Elizabeth, in her old age, receives 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:15.839 grace from God, conceives and bears John the 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:22.439 Baptist. Joachim and Anna, shamed by years because 00:07:22.439 --> 00:07:26.560 of the society and the culture, years of infertility, 00:07:26.579 --> 00:07:33.879 barrenness. God answers their prayers. You know 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:35.959 the story. I'm not going to go through it right 00:07:35.959 --> 00:07:45.699 now. The first thing of the two things that this 00:07:45.699 --> 00:07:50.500 feast reminds us of is our need for rebirth. 00:07:51.480 --> 00:07:56.970 It may be that we are distracted. By the blessings, 00:07:57.129 --> 00:07:59.470 the material blessings, the good things that 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:04.089 God sends us in this world. And we place them 00:08:04.089 --> 00:08:11.870 between God and us. We forget about God a little 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:16.250 bit. He takes the back seat to the gifts he gives 00:08:16.250 --> 00:08:20.490 us. I'm not even talking about outright sin. 00:08:20.610 --> 00:08:25.000 That does something else to us. We forget that 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:33.879 we need to be reborn, renewed, revivified. If 00:08:33.879 --> 00:08:36.279 we don't have that feeling, perhaps our faith 00:08:36.279 --> 00:08:40.200 is just one of ethics and morals in which we 00:08:40.200 --> 00:08:43.519 try to be a good person, which we should be, 00:08:43.580 --> 00:08:47.240 keeping the commandments. But we know that Christ 00:08:47.240 --> 00:08:51.379 asks us to be holy, to be holy as our Heavenly 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:57.490 Father is holy. To be good is possible even without 00:08:57.490 --> 00:09:02.769 God's direct help. But to be holy, to be as we 00:09:02.769 --> 00:09:07.389 were created to be by him, reborn comes only 00:09:07.389 --> 00:09:10.049 from Christ. And so we need to discover that 00:09:10.049 --> 00:09:13.750 need for that holiness. And the second thing, 00:09:14.389 --> 00:09:17.529 the second thing, we may have experienced such 00:09:17.529 --> 00:09:23.240 loss and difficulties. struggling for nothing, 00:09:23.320 --> 00:09:30.399 it seems, and we're broken, worn down, loss of 00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:36.000 hope. Many around us are experiencing that. Then 00:09:36.000 --> 00:09:40.460 despondency comes from that fruitless, apparently 00:09:40.460 --> 00:09:46.940 fruitless struggle. What good can come when we 00:09:46.940 --> 00:09:51.179 discover that is keeping us? Then we think of 00:09:51.179 --> 00:09:55.919 this feast day. We enter into it. The pure, the 00:09:55.919 --> 00:09:58.720 virtuous, the holy Joachim and Anna who wanted 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:04.440 children prayed and prayed. Barren, no good. 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:11.139 Dried up, hardened, cold, lifeless is what they 00:10:11.139 --> 00:10:15.940 felt. What good could come? But God's gaze, his 00:10:15.940 --> 00:10:20.080 love, his providence is upon them. And it's upon 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:28.019 us. God guides us. He hears us. He reaches us, 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:32.700 towards us, continually. Let me finish with these 00:10:32.700 --> 00:10:36.960 words of the Abbot Ephraim from the monastery 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:40.740 of Vatopedi on Mount Athos, where I was last 00:10:40.740 --> 00:10:44.659 year about this time. These are words that the 00:10:44.659 --> 00:10:49.409 Elder Ephraim spoke at the Thrapisa. at the lunch 00:10:49.409 --> 00:10:55.370 after the service. Joachim and Anna nourished 00:10:55.370 --> 00:11:00.269 the hope, which does not bring shame. They had 00:11:00.269 --> 00:11:02.929 great persistence in their prayers, and they 00:11:02.929 --> 00:11:05.269 felt sure that God would fulfill their respect, 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:10.190 their request. And it was not as though they 00:11:10.190 --> 00:11:12.429 bore their lack of a child for any short time. 00:11:12.649 --> 00:11:15.370 Tradition tells us that Anna conceived the mother 00:11:15.370 --> 00:11:19.970 of God after 50 years of sterility. We often 00:11:19.970 --> 00:11:24.090 despair or become displeased with our struggle 00:11:24.090 --> 00:11:27.649 and say we have not had a response, that God 00:11:27.649 --> 00:11:30.409 has not heard us. We have no sense of grace. 00:11:31.710 --> 00:11:35.690 We are distressed. What's needed is patience, 00:11:35.710 --> 00:11:40.850 says the elder, patience in sorrows. Not patience 00:11:40.850 --> 00:11:44.149 to overcome the sorrows, but patience in sorrows. 00:11:44.210 --> 00:11:47.490 Faith, patience and faith in the promises of 00:11:47.490 --> 00:11:51.830 God. What is faith? It's not trying harder to 00:11:51.830 --> 00:11:54.250 believe what you think the Bible says and the 00:11:54.250 --> 00:12:00.009 church teaches. Faith is the action of those 00:12:00.009 --> 00:12:03.889 commandments in our life. To keep walking on 00:12:03.889 --> 00:12:10.509 the way, no matter what. That's faith. And learning 00:12:10.509 --> 00:12:13.289 from what we read in the scriptures and the tradition 00:12:13.289 --> 00:12:15.309 of the teaching of the church, that it is true. 00:12:16.250 --> 00:12:22.889 That's faith. Trust in God. The elder says, it 00:12:22.889 --> 00:12:24.570 was not as though they bared their lack of a 00:12:24.570 --> 00:12:29.009 child for any short time. We often become displeased. 00:12:29.690 --> 00:12:33.269 We have no sense of grace. We are distressed. 00:12:33.409 --> 00:12:36.309 What's needed is patience and sorrow, faith in 00:12:36.309 --> 00:12:39.590 the promises of God, perfect obedience to God's 00:12:39.590 --> 00:12:44.529 will and hope. Not to lose heart in our prayers. 00:12:45.740 --> 00:12:49.279 God knows when it's in our interest to give us 00:12:49.279 --> 00:12:52.659 his inexpressible, inconceivable, and invaluable 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:58.299 glorifying gifts. His divine grace as a resident 00:12:58.299 --> 00:13:02.480 condition. Spiritual things come by themselves, 00:13:02.879 --> 00:13:08.399 says Abba Isaiah. We don't arrange them as and 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:12.480 when we want. And the elder finishes with these 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:15.200 words. We pray that Our Lady, the Mother of God, 00:13:15.340 --> 00:13:20.000 and the Foremother of God, who have the blessing 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.659 of curing physical sterility, will cure our hearts, 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:28.799 which are barren of spiritual works, so that 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:32.159 God will send to our souls His divine and most 00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:38.259 sweet grace, which adorns, renews, and immortalizes 00:13:38.259 --> 00:13:41.750 people. making them incorrupt, that is, as saints. 00:13:42.070 --> 00:13:45.590 Most holy Theotokos, save us.