WEBVTT 00:00:00.810 --> 00:00:06.469 We have a lot to take in today. As you heard 00:00:06.469 --> 00:00:11.130 in the hymns, we're celebrating the Feast Day 00:00:11.130 --> 00:00:20.050 of Annunciation. I'll give a reward to anybody 00:00:20.050 --> 00:00:23.570 who can point out the Annunciation right behind 00:00:23.570 --> 00:00:33.439 me. That's right. The Anon. Also in the Holy 00:00:33.439 --> 00:00:39.960 Doors, it tells us that heaven and earth come 00:00:39.960 --> 00:00:44.399 together in the Theotokos, but most perfectly 00:00:44.399 --> 00:00:50.219 in Jesus Christ, who we will take into ourselves 00:00:50.219 --> 00:00:55.719 later during this very liturgy. And we will become 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.600 Christ -bearers too. Heaven and earth are joined 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.460 together forever now. The invisible and the visible 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:05.579 are joined. That which is spiritual is joined 00:01:05.579 --> 00:01:10.859 to the material. So we rejoice. We know how to 00:01:10.859 --> 00:01:16.640 celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions. 00:01:19.640 --> 00:01:22.700 But we don't live in a culture that celebrates 00:01:22.700 --> 00:01:28.879 religious holidays. Hasn't happened. It's been 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:32.140 a long time. All we have now is Mardi Gras, you 00:01:32.140 --> 00:01:35.540 know, and that's vulgarity probably mostly. So 00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.939 we have to make sure that we're going to celebrate 00:01:38.939 --> 00:01:43.299 a feast day to imbibe in the joy the reality 00:01:43.299 --> 00:01:48.019 of what's happened for our salvation. We have 00:01:48.019 --> 00:01:52.159 to plan it out so our home becomes that place 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:55.010 of celebration. We gather other people together. 00:01:55.329 --> 00:01:57.670 We have a special meal here, which we do every 00:01:57.670 --> 00:01:59.950 Sunday. Why? Because every Sunday is like a little 00:01:59.950 --> 00:02:03.109 Pascha, and we have fellowship. But we have to 00:02:03.109 --> 00:02:06.609 be intentional. Otherwise, these feast days will 00:02:06.609 --> 00:02:11.090 come and go, and there's no impact on our soul. 00:02:11.310 --> 00:02:13.969 But if you listen to the hymns that we sing at 00:02:13.969 --> 00:02:17.210 the vigil and liturgy, this is like the most 00:02:17.210 --> 00:02:23.469 important thing that ever happened. But we need 00:02:23.469 --> 00:02:27.830 to approach it with that kind of intentional 00:02:27.830 --> 00:02:31.889 seriousness. So we're celebrating an Annunciation. 00:02:32.710 --> 00:02:39.270 March 25th is how many months before December 00:02:39.270 --> 00:02:44.789 25th? It's nine months. Yes, that's because the 00:02:44.789 --> 00:02:48.430 feast day is the conception within her of the 00:02:48.430 --> 00:02:52.979 Word of God. No Christmas without what we celebrated 00:02:52.979 --> 00:02:55.460 yesterday and we continue to celebrate today. 00:02:56.620 --> 00:02:59.780 I said there's a lot to take in. That's true. 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:05.259 We also remember this day, commemorate that which 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:09.539 the Archangel Gabriel did throughout the Old 00:03:09.539 --> 00:03:13.560 Testament, but that culmination of coming to 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:16.560 the Theotokos, the Virgin, and there he is. And 00:03:16.560 --> 00:03:21.460 you see his wings, they're all in motion. I remember 00:03:21.460 --> 00:03:26.419 in the book club that we're reading, this space 00:03:26.419 --> 00:03:29.240 trilogy by C .S. Lewis, I think it's in Paralandra, 00:03:29.340 --> 00:03:32.379 and it speaks of angels, and when they come to 00:03:32.379 --> 00:03:35.740 a certain place, they're not standing still like 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:39.039 us. No, because the earth is spinning at what? 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:42.180 Is it 18 ,000 miles an hour? Something like that? 00:03:42.300 --> 00:03:45.900 The angel is in movement to stay with the spin 00:03:45.900 --> 00:03:50.539 of the earth. So the angels all... Fire, all 00:03:50.539 --> 00:03:55.800 messenger, all movement to come to us. So we 00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:59.740 celebrate this day. And I'll read you from the 00:03:59.740 --> 00:04:03.439 Sennacherib what it says about Gabriel. A being 00:04:03.439 --> 00:04:07.960 of fire, free from all alteration, and permanently 00:04:07.960 --> 00:04:11.319 consecrated to the contemplation of divine glory. 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:15.259 The archangel Gabriel was designated by the Lord 00:04:15.259 --> 00:04:18.360 as a ministering spirit sent forth to serve. 00:04:18.889 --> 00:04:22.430 quoting Hebrews chapter 1, for the sake of those 00:04:22.430 --> 00:04:28.110 who are to inherit salvation. That's us. According 00:04:28.110 --> 00:04:31.810 to St. Proclus of Constantinople, Gabriel's name 00:04:31.810 --> 00:04:36.769 means God and man and signifies that he is charged 00:04:36.769 --> 00:04:39.370 to announce all the mysteries which have contributed 00:04:39.370 --> 00:04:43.829 to the preparation for the incarnation of our 00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:47.920 Lord Jesus Christ. The goal... and summit of 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:53.939 his mission was therefore the word rejoice. That's 00:04:53.939 --> 00:04:56.720 how we approach our Christian life, rejoice, 00:04:57.000 --> 00:05:00.060 which he announced to the mother of God and which 00:05:00.060 --> 00:05:02.920 has become the form of praise and thanksgiving 00:05:02.920 --> 00:05:07.500 of all those who thanks to him inherit salvation 00:05:07.500 --> 00:05:12.199 and try to imitate on earth something of the 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:17.170 angelic life of praise of God. I said we have 00:05:17.170 --> 00:05:21.350 a lot to take in. We also have this gospel account 00:05:21.350 --> 00:05:28.170 from Mark about the demon -possessed child, the 00:05:28.170 --> 00:05:31.170 distraught father, and Christ's words at the 00:05:31.170 --> 00:05:34.470 end that he will be crucified, arrested and crucified, 00:05:34.670 --> 00:05:37.689 and the third day arise, and his disciples did 00:05:37.689 --> 00:05:42.129 not understand. We're disciples, and most of 00:05:42.129 --> 00:05:45.069 the time we don't either. The Lord is approached 00:05:45.069 --> 00:05:47.529 by a noisy crowd. Let me say something about 00:05:47.529 --> 00:05:51.550 this account. And the disciples are distraught 00:05:51.550 --> 00:05:56.149 also. They're frustrated, and they're demoralized, 00:05:56.170 --> 00:05:58.970 and they're being made fun of, if you read between 00:05:58.970 --> 00:06:05.029 the lines, because they could not heal the child. 00:06:06.410 --> 00:06:11.029 Jesus throws up his hands. How long will I put 00:06:11.029 --> 00:06:16.000 up with you? faithless generation. That was then. 00:06:16.220 --> 00:06:22.459 Have we gotten much better? The account is given 00:06:22.459 --> 00:06:26.420 to us on this day, this fourth Sunday of Lent, 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:31.000 past the midpoint. And I'd like to point out 00:06:31.000 --> 00:06:33.259 two things about this gospel. There are many 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:36.879 things, but let me say two things that it teaches 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:42.860 us. One, wonderful and amazing. The other, something 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:48.060 like sorrow, leading to joy. And the first thing, 00:06:48.180 --> 00:06:53.259 let me start with the sorrow. It might come as 00:06:53.259 --> 00:06:58.259 a surprise and a shock to each of us. Once we 00:06:58.259 --> 00:07:02.920 actually dive into Lent, to try to fast, to try 00:07:02.920 --> 00:07:05.519 to pray more. to try to come to church services, 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:08.240 not just Sunday, but the Pre -Sanctified and 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:11.319 whatever else, it might come to us as a shock 00:07:11.319 --> 00:07:17.199 to realize how broken I am. How fragmented my 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:20.639 thinking and my intentions and my desires are. 00:07:20.939 --> 00:07:23.500 Just for everything, I want to pull it all in. 00:07:24.300 --> 00:07:28.939 How demanding I am. That's what shocks me. How 00:07:28.939 --> 00:07:34.319 sinful and helpless I am. The father of that 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.160 boy in this story, in chapter 9 of Mark, read 00:07:37.160 --> 00:07:43.500 it, comes to Christ. This man's got faith. Just 00:07:43.500 --> 00:07:48.519 enough. He cries out to the Lord. Lord, I believe. 00:07:49.519 --> 00:07:57.620 Help my unbelief. Help my fear. Help my doubts. 00:07:58.060 --> 00:08:02.740 Help my lack of love. He sees himself so clearly 00:08:02.740 --> 00:08:06.259 here. But it's in the presence of the Lord Jesus 00:08:06.259 --> 00:08:12.100 Christ, our Savior, that he sees himself. It's 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:14.500 not just because he had some kind of realization. 00:08:14.540 --> 00:08:19.420 You know, the devil likes to show us the truth 00:08:19.420 --> 00:08:24.120 of our vices. And it produces because he blames 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:28.689 us, he accuses us. It produces hopelessness and 00:08:28.689 --> 00:08:33.529 depression and denial in us. Lack of faith in 00:08:33.529 --> 00:08:37.990 us. But when God reveals the truth about our 00:08:37.990 --> 00:08:43.190 sins, our vices, our weaknesses, he also reveals 00:08:43.190 --> 00:08:46.809 his love. The light of his love is the thing 00:08:46.809 --> 00:08:49.909 that illumines what we can see about ourself. 00:08:50.149 --> 00:08:54.610 And this liberates us from the bondage of self 00:08:54.610 --> 00:09:00.740 -love. It encourages us, gives us courage. That's 00:09:00.740 --> 00:09:03.500 what the word encourage means, to strengthen 00:09:03.500 --> 00:09:08.639 our heart. The French word for heart is in there. 00:09:08.799 --> 00:09:11.740 To struggle for further change, to repent. The 00:09:11.740 --> 00:09:15.019 devil has shown me my sins, and I know he's shown 00:09:15.019 --> 00:09:17.480 you your sins because I hear confessions. He's 00:09:17.480 --> 00:09:22.679 shown us so many times in that negative, dark 00:09:22.679 --> 00:09:29.419 way. God has shown me my sins, but it's a very 00:09:29.419 --> 00:09:33.960 different experience. Because the first smothers 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:38.639 hope. The second renews hope. So I'm learning 00:09:38.639 --> 00:09:42.360 to be, and I hope you are too, more careful about 00:09:42.360 --> 00:09:46.860 this than I used to be. We have the book of the 00:09:46.860 --> 00:09:49.259 ladder of divine ascent. That's the other thing 00:09:49.259 --> 00:09:52.639 that the fourth Sunday is usually, almost always. 00:09:54.129 --> 00:09:59.309 commemorated as. The St. John, the writer of 00:09:59.309 --> 00:10:03.610 the Ladder of Divine Ascent. We have to be careful 00:10:03.610 --> 00:10:09.649 if we read it as the devil would have us read 00:10:09.649 --> 00:10:14.529 it to condemn ourselves. Christ is the liberator 00:10:14.529 --> 00:10:19.149 of captives. Most of us have been captives of 00:10:19.149 --> 00:10:21.730 all kinds of fearful self -love. It's fearful. 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:28.259 But now we start to move away from that. The 00:10:28.259 --> 00:10:33.080 second thing, the second thing, the wonderful 00:10:33.080 --> 00:10:38.299 words which we heard, the words of Gabriel to 00:10:38.299 --> 00:10:41.879 the Theotokos. I said there's two things. This 00:10:41.879 --> 00:10:45.440 is the second thing. Gabriel says to the Virgin, 00:10:45.679 --> 00:10:51.960 with God, all things are possible. Let's not 00:10:51.960 --> 00:10:55.820 reduce that to monetary or material means. Back 00:10:55.820 --> 00:10:59.779 when I used to work at a design company, I would 00:10:59.779 --> 00:11:04.559 frequently go to a print shop over on Pioneer. 00:11:04.600 --> 00:11:06.639 Now it's an auto place, but it was a print shop. 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:09.019 It was called Cleek Printing. And the man in 00:11:09.019 --> 00:11:11.419 there who owned the print shop would greet me 00:11:11.419 --> 00:11:14.820 very kindly all the time. And he learned that 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:20.059 I became a priest. And I was still working. And 00:11:20.059 --> 00:11:22.850 he says, Padre, because that's what people in 00:11:22.850 --> 00:11:25.690 the world call you when you're in your civilian 00:11:25.690 --> 00:11:28.750 clothes and they found out you're a priest. Padre, 00:11:28.830 --> 00:11:34.210 I want to get this sailboat. I need this loan 00:11:34.210 --> 00:11:38.690 for $250 ,000. Would you pray for me that I'll 00:11:38.690 --> 00:11:45.070 get the loan? So what do I say? I said, Duffy, 00:11:45.210 --> 00:11:49.769 I'll pray that God gives you. what you need for 00:11:49.769 --> 00:11:52.929 your salvation. If it's a sailboat, may he grant 00:11:52.929 --> 00:11:58.870 it. Duffy died about a month later. So let's 00:11:58.870 --> 00:12:01.950 remember that when the angel says, with God all 00:12:01.950 --> 00:12:04.769 things are possible, it doesn't mean for our 00:12:04.769 --> 00:12:08.909 entertainment. It doesn't even mean to pull us 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:14.330 out of our suffering. It means that he can save 00:12:14.330 --> 00:12:20.539 even us. The second wonderful thing also, St. 00:12:20.779 --> 00:12:23.559 Philaret says, whom I quoted yesterday, without 00:12:23.559 --> 00:12:29.200 its creator, now listen carefully, don't be insulted, 00:12:29.500 --> 00:12:36.980 without its creator, a creature is nothing. Seems 00:12:36.980 --> 00:12:42.399 accurate, right? We would not exist. He says, 00:12:42.460 --> 00:12:47.340 it is only something, we. creatures of God by 00:12:47.340 --> 00:12:50.779 the power of its creator and so of what significance 00:12:50.779 --> 00:12:54.899 is the will of man if it does not attach itself 00:12:54.899 --> 00:12:58.220 to the will of God through obedience as the virgin 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:02.200 did that is to follow obedience is to follow 00:13:02.200 --> 00:13:07.539 the one whom we hear and love let me put it in 00:13:07.539 --> 00:13:11.519 the words of the savior I am the vine you are 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:15.649 the branches he who abides in me and I in him, 00:13:15.809 --> 00:13:19.090 that is, lives in me with freedom, and I live 00:13:19.090 --> 00:13:23.929 in him with freedom, bears much fruit. For without 00:13:23.929 --> 00:13:28.330 me, you can do nothing. This statement is about 00:13:28.330 --> 00:13:32.269 our very existence, not our accomplishments. 00:13:35.750 --> 00:13:39.669 This feast we're celebrating yesterday and today, 00:13:39.850 --> 00:13:42.730 the Annunciation, the Good News brought by the 00:13:42.730 --> 00:13:48.190 Archangel, The two bring us this wonderful self 00:13:48.190 --> 00:13:53.990 -realization. We see our weakness. And we learn 00:13:53.990 --> 00:13:57.850 without Christ we can do nothing. And he comes 00:13:57.850 --> 00:14:04.149 to us. And we have success in the spiritual life. 00:14:04.590 --> 00:14:08.450 We're so fragmented. We're so broken. We celebrate 00:14:08.450 --> 00:14:11.610 the virgin. What's virginity? It's not an absence 00:14:11.610 --> 00:14:16.679 of some experience. It's wholeness. It's integrity. 00:14:17.259 --> 00:14:23.899 We need spiritual virginity from God. We're so 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:28.159 fragmented. The Theotokos teaches us, sweeps 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:30.759 us up in this feast day, literally, with the 00:14:30.759 --> 00:14:35.100 healing of Christ. So let us rejoice, brothers 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:38.740 and sisters. Remember, to rejoice in a feast 00:14:38.740 --> 00:14:42.779 takes a little work, takes some intentionality. 00:14:43.500 --> 00:14:47.299 Takes a little bit of time. We donate that to 00:14:47.299 --> 00:14:50.960 the Lord and we receive all the blessings he 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:54.600 can give us. To our Lord be glory now and ever 00:14:54.600 --> 00:14:56.360 to ages of ages. Amen.