WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.200 Each of you, I wish a joyous and spiritually 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:10.279 profitable feast day. It is joyous. It is joyous, 00:00:10.279 --> 00:00:16.260 and we're invited to enter into that joy from 00:00:16.260 --> 00:00:21.679 wherever we stand, from whatever state our mind, 00:00:21.699 --> 00:00:26.410 our soul is in. That day marks what the hymn 00:00:26.410 --> 00:00:30.030 says is the crown. It's the beginning, the fountainhead 00:00:30.030 --> 00:00:34.030 of our salvation. God's son becomes the son of 00:00:34.030 --> 00:00:38.090 the virgin. The joy is not something that we 00:00:38.090 --> 00:00:43.229 can work ourselves up into emotionally or aesthetically. 00:00:43.289 --> 00:00:46.590 Something will go wrong. We may be moved by the 00:00:46.590 --> 00:00:50.869 singing. That's good. The icons, the poetry. 00:00:51.659 --> 00:00:54.240 The hymns, the ceremony, these are wonderful 00:00:54.240 --> 00:01:00.219 things. And for sure, we affirm that for centuries 00:01:00.219 --> 00:01:04.980 and centuries, men and women have created countless 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:10.900 works of art, music, hymnography, poetry, inspired 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:14.540 by this feast. Maybe more than any other feast 00:01:14.540 --> 00:01:16.640 except Christmas. I don't know. I haven't checked 00:01:16.640 --> 00:01:21.829 on that. and souls have been elevated and sanctified 00:01:21.829 --> 00:01:26.609 and filled with godly virtue in striving to enter 00:01:26.609 --> 00:01:30.769 in to the joy of this feast by a way of life 00:01:30.769 --> 00:01:35.010 that is inspired by the Theotokos, by this good 00:01:35.010 --> 00:01:40.349 news, the Evangelion, the good news of a victory 00:01:40.349 --> 00:01:44.290 that is here beginning, and we see where it's 00:01:44.290 --> 00:01:48.689 going. Our modern world has an entirely different 00:01:48.689 --> 00:01:54.409 focus, and it can't relate to this feast. Minds, 00:01:54.409 --> 00:01:59.609 hearts, feelings are so powerfully drawn instead 00:01:59.609 --> 00:02:02.329 to the tragedies in the world, which we have 00:02:02.329 --> 00:02:05.069 to acknowledge, and the suffering which we acknowledge, 00:02:05.329 --> 00:02:07.469 and the violence and the deliverance and the 00:02:07.469 --> 00:02:12.830 divisions. We try to find out and know what we 00:02:12.830 --> 00:02:15.770 can about these things, but our answer is to 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:19.629 respond with prayer and tears, with fasting, 00:02:19.810 --> 00:02:27.629 with alms. Just recently, the church gave us 00:02:27.629 --> 00:02:29.849 the reading from Genesis as the first week of 00:02:29.849 --> 00:02:34.330 Lent, so we're not surprised. Cain kills his 00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:38.879 brother. This is the state of the world. And 00:02:38.879 --> 00:02:43.560 the Lord says to Noah, well, there's Lamech also 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:46.800 murdered. And then the Lord says to Noah, he 00:02:46.800 --> 00:02:50.139 looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt. 00:02:50.620 --> 00:02:53.680 For all flesh had corrupted their way on the 00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.159 earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh 00:02:57.159 --> 00:02:59.620 has come before me. For the earth is filled with 00:02:59.620 --> 00:03:05.629 violence through them. We can't forget. The profound 00:03:05.629 --> 00:03:09.050 suffering that man inflicts upon man. But we 00:03:09.050 --> 00:03:11.370 also don't forget, and the church made this clear, 00:03:11.569 --> 00:03:14.069 that the way back is through paradise. And the 00:03:14.069 --> 00:03:17.210 knowledge and understanding and the good news 00:03:17.210 --> 00:03:21.110 of the gospel is there for everyone. It is not 00:03:21.110 --> 00:03:28.530 a secret. So, if there's darkness of sin, we 00:03:28.530 --> 00:03:30.949 can still find our way to the joy of this feast. 00:03:31.659 --> 00:03:34.360 And it's important that we do struggle to find 00:03:34.360 --> 00:03:38.280 the way into the joy of this feast. It's not 00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:44.680 going to be delivered to us. God is with us. 00:03:45.659 --> 00:03:48.800 That's the joy of this feast. St. Proclus of 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.460 Constantinople in his very long sermon, it would 00:03:52.460 --> 00:03:55.219 take us a half hour at least to read it, reminds 00:03:55.219 --> 00:03:58.439 us that the mother of God, the Virgin Mary, it 00:03:58.439 --> 00:04:02.580 is she that has gathered us together. You thought 00:04:02.580 --> 00:04:06.360 you just came on your own. She gathered us together. 00:04:06.960 --> 00:04:10.439 He says she is the pure treasure of virginity, 00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:15.939 the intended paradise of the second Adam. You 00:04:15.939 --> 00:04:20.040 see, paradise again is given to us. The place 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:22.240 where the union of nature's divine and human 00:04:22.240 --> 00:04:25.240 was accomplished and the council of salvific 00:04:25.240 --> 00:04:29.879 reconciliation was affirmed. How can we not? 00:04:30.670 --> 00:04:34.610 In her presence, being gathered, find a way to 00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:39.230 rejoice today. St. Paul says that Christ came 00:04:39.230 --> 00:04:41.250 to destroy him that held the power of death, 00:04:41.370 --> 00:04:43.910 that is the devil, and through fear of death 00:04:43.910 --> 00:04:48.810 brought all into bondage. That is over with Christ. 00:04:50.470 --> 00:04:55.470 Let me end with this small portion of a sermon 00:04:55.470 --> 00:04:58.730 by St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, 19th 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:02.250 century. He said this in his sermon for today. 00:05:03.189 --> 00:05:06.550 During the days of the creation of the world, 00:05:06.689 --> 00:05:10.209 when God uttered his living and mighty words, 00:05:10.329 --> 00:05:16.550 let it be, let there be light, the creator's 00:05:16.550 --> 00:05:21.050 words brought creatures into existence. But on 00:05:21.050 --> 00:05:23.829 the day unique in the existence of the world, 00:05:23.870 --> 00:05:28.250 when Holy Mary uttered her humble and obedient, 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:32.800 Let it be. I would hardly dare to express what 00:05:32.800 --> 00:05:36.600 took place then. The word of the creature caused 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:41.259 the creator to descend into the world. God uttered 00:05:41.259 --> 00:05:45.699 his word here also, saying, You will conceive 00:05:45.699 --> 00:05:48.680 in your womb and bear a son, and he will be great, 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:51.939 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:57.579 and of his kingdom there shall be no end. But 00:05:57.579 --> 00:06:00.459 again, that which is divine and incomprehensible 00:06:00.459 --> 00:06:05.660 occurs. The word of God itself defers its action, 00:06:05.740 --> 00:06:08.500 allowing itself to be delayed by the word of 00:06:08.500 --> 00:06:14.199 Mary. How can this be, she says. Her humble let 00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:17.600 it be was necessary for the realization of God's 00:06:17.600 --> 00:06:21.620 mighty let it be. What secret power is thus contained 00:06:21.620 --> 00:06:25.819 in these simple words? Behold, I am the handmaiden. 00:06:26.110 --> 00:06:30.149 of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your 00:06:30.149 --> 00:06:34.329 will. That it produces an effect so extraordinary. 00:06:35.410 --> 00:06:38.689 This marvelous power is Mary's pure and perfect 00:06:38.689 --> 00:06:41.629 self -dedication to God, a dedication of her 00:06:41.629 --> 00:06:44.970 will, a dedication of her thought, of her soul, 00:06:45.110 --> 00:06:50.250 of her entire being. Aren't we asked to love 00:06:50.250 --> 00:06:54.360 God with all of that? of all her faculties, of 00:06:54.360 --> 00:06:57.759 all her actions, of all her hopes and expectations. 00:06:59.319 --> 00:07:05.600 These days, we find it hard to find joy. We forget 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:09.240 that Cain killed his brother. We forget that 00:07:09.240 --> 00:07:11.939 we're called to paradise and we're immersed in 00:07:11.939 --> 00:07:15.639 the mud all the time. And we end up interrogating, 00:07:15.639 --> 00:07:20.660 repeatedly questioning God, sometimes convicting 00:07:20.660 --> 00:07:25.170 him. Let's find the courage, brothers and sisters, 00:07:25.389 --> 00:07:30.250 to raise our souls up, to say to God, as did 00:07:30.250 --> 00:07:33.389 the Theotokos, let it be according to thy word, 00:07:33.490 --> 00:07:37.649 Lord, and our heart and our mind and our will 00:07:37.649 --> 00:07:43.389 and our actions be united to God's will in absolute 00:07:43.389 --> 00:07:49.040 obedience to him, as she did. You want to emulate 00:07:49.040 --> 00:07:52.379 the Theotokos? That's how we do it, in humility. 00:07:53.620 --> 00:07:57.600 And there's freedom, the freedom to let God act, 00:07:57.699 --> 00:08:01.139 and the freedom that we are not enslaved to ourself 00:08:01.139 --> 00:08:05.120 or that pesky and awful and hideous creature 00:08:05.120 --> 00:08:08.519 that turned away from God, the devil, who held 00:08:08.519 --> 00:08:12.420 the power of death, but no longer does. This 00:08:12.420 --> 00:08:16.930 feast is about freedom in God, in his love. his 00:08:16.930 --> 00:08:21.689 and ours. Only then, maybe we can truly say, 00:08:21.889 --> 00:08:25.550 let it be, O Lord, according to thy will, and 00:08:25.550 --> 00:08:29.129 only then, maybe, find the joy of this feast 00:08:29.129 --> 00:08:31.689 to rejoice. Sprasnikum.