Each of you, I wish a joyous and spiritually
profitable feast day. It is joyous. It is joyous,
and we're invited to enter into that joy from
wherever we stand, from whatever state our mind,
our soul is in. That day marks what the hymn
says is the crown. It's the beginning, the fountainhead
of our salvation. God's son becomes the son of
the virgin. The joy is not something that we
can work ourselves up into emotionally or aesthetically.
Something will go wrong. We may be moved by the
singing. That's good. The icons, the poetry.
The hymns, the ceremony, these are wonderful
things. And for sure, we affirm that for centuries
and centuries, men and women have created countless
works of art, music, hymnography, poetry, inspired
by this feast. Maybe more than any other feast
except Christmas. I don't know. I haven't checked
on that. and souls have been elevated and sanctified
and filled with godly virtue in striving to enter
in to the joy of this feast by a way of life
that is inspired by the Theotokos, by this good
news, the Evangelion, the good news of a victory
that is here beginning, and we see where it's
going. Our modern world has an entirely different
focus, and it can't relate to this feast. Minds,
hearts, feelings are so powerfully drawn instead
to the tragedies in the world, which we have
to acknowledge, and the suffering which we acknowledge,
and the violence and the deliverance and the
divisions. We try to find out and know what we
can about these things, but our answer is to
respond with prayer and tears, with fasting,
with alms. Just recently, the church gave us
the reading from Genesis as the first week of
Lent, so we're not surprised. Cain kills his
brother. This is the state of the world. And
the Lord says to Noah, well, there's Lamech also
murdered. And then the Lord says to Noah, he
looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt.
For all flesh had corrupted their way on the
earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh
has come before me. For the earth is filled with
violence through them. We can't forget. The profound
suffering that man inflicts upon man. But we
also don't forget, and the church made this clear,
that the way back is through paradise. And the
knowledge and understanding and the good news
of the gospel is there for everyone. It is not
a secret. So, if there's darkness of sin, we
can still find our way to the joy of this feast.
And it's important that we do struggle to find
the way into the joy of this feast. It's not
going to be delivered to us. God is with us.
That's the joy of this feast. St. Proclus of
Constantinople in his very long sermon, it would
take us a half hour at least to read it, reminds
us that the mother of God, the Virgin Mary, it
is she that has gathered us together. You thought
you just came on your own. She gathered us together.
He says she is the pure treasure of virginity,
the intended paradise of the second Adam. You
see, paradise again is given to us. The place
where the union of nature's divine and human
was accomplished and the council of salvific
reconciliation was affirmed. How can we not?
In her presence, being gathered, find a way to
rejoice today. St. Paul says that Christ came
to destroy him that held the power of death,
that is the devil, and through fear of death
brought all into bondage. That is over with Christ.
Let me end with this small portion of a sermon
by St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, 19th
century. He said this in his sermon for today.
During the days of the creation of the world,
when God uttered his living and mighty words,
let it be, let there be light, the creator's
words brought creatures into existence. But on
the day unique in the existence of the world,
when Holy Mary uttered her humble and obedient,
Let it be. I would hardly dare to express what
took place then. The word of the creature caused
the creator to descend into the world. God uttered
his word here also, saying, You will conceive
in your womb and bear a son, and he will be great,
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and of his kingdom there shall be no end. But
again, that which is divine and incomprehensible
occurs. The word of God itself defers its action,
allowing itself to be delayed by the word of
Mary. How can this be, she says. Her humble let
it be was necessary for the realization of God's
mighty let it be. What secret power is thus contained
in these simple words? Behold, I am the handmaiden.
of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your
will. That it produces an effect so extraordinary.
This marvelous power is Mary's pure and perfect
self -dedication to God, a dedication of her
will, a dedication of her thought, of her soul,
of her entire being. Aren't we asked to love
God with all of that? of all her faculties, of
all her actions, of all her hopes and expectations.
These days, we find it hard to find joy. We forget
that Cain killed his brother. We forget that
we're called to paradise and we're immersed in
the mud all the time. And we end up interrogating,
repeatedly questioning God, sometimes convicting
him. Let's find the courage, brothers and sisters,
to raise our souls up, to say to God, as did
the Theotokos, let it be according to thy word,
Lord, and our heart and our mind and our will
and our actions be united to God's will in absolute
obedience to him, as she did. You want to emulate
the Theotokos? That's how we do it, in humility.
And there's freedom, the freedom to let God act,
and the freedom that we are not enslaved to ourself
or that pesky and awful and hideous creature
that turned away from God, the devil, who held
the power of death, but no longer does. This
feast is about freedom in God, in his love. his
and ours. Only then, maybe we can truly say,
let it be, O Lord, according to thy will, and
only then, maybe, find the joy of this feast
to rejoice. Sprasnikum.