In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit. Amen. The moat around the
altar, it's not really a moat. You could come
up closer if you like. There's no danger. There's
no danger there. I congratulate all of you. I
wish many years on the occasion of this, our
parish feast. I congratulate the choir members,
choir master, with my gratitude, profound thanks.
It's also the feast of the choir. You have the
Fresco of St. Romanos, the melodist. His memory
is celebrated today. He's there watching the
whole thing, make sure that it's done right and
they do it right. We have some Paschal joy today
because of this feast. May God send each of you
and all your families great blessing and joy
and peace and the protection of the Theotokos.
You know, we have two churches on this church
property. This is the church dedicated to the
memory under the patronage of St. Seraphim of
Sarov since 1996. But we have a small church.
Founded 87 years ago in this place by a group
of Orthodox people who found this property on
this still dusty road near the main drag at that
time into Santa Rosa. The parish is still named
after the protection of the Holy Virgin. And
this is the feast day today that we celebrate.
That church was built and blessed in 1936. I
believe only the altar table was consecrated,
not the whole church, as far as I could determine.
But the parish was named for the Feast of the
Protection of the Holy Virgin, placed under her
care. And again, this is the feast that we celebrate
today with gratitude to God, to the Theotokos,
and to our founders. It's my contention. that
the health of a parish can be determined by many
things. Of course, you've got the external things.
You've got the budget. You've got the beautiful
programs and the beautiful buildings and the
wonderful people. But the health, and those are
all good, the health of the parish can be, especially
one dedicated to the Theotokos, can be found
in how the members of the church Keep the celebrations
of the feast days of the All -Holy Lady Theotokos,
year in and year out. And so let this feast be
the beginning of that for the rest of the year.
Our feast is about an event that happened in
the year 9 -11. That's an easy number to remember.
Some say... It could have been different, but
9 -11 AD. It's been a long time since then. We've
all had a chance to read up on what the feast
is since that time. So I'm not going to tell
you, except in the briefest terms, about it.
That the city of Constantinople was being attacked
by Scythian warriors from the north, barbarians.
There was an all -night vigil service in the
church called the Church of the Black Cairni,
the church dedicated to the Virgin. And during
that service, a man, he was a fool for Christ.
That's a certain category of saints. They seem
to do strange things, but they always work out.
This man, named Andrew, beheld. In the air, a
vision of the Theotokos, shimmering vision, holding
a veil. In those days, the veil was not this
light thing that goes over the head, like we
see some of us wearing. It was, it sounds a little
too, you know, crude, but it was like a poncho.
It was heavy. Protection against the elements.
And St. Andrew beheld, look at the icon in the
middle, you see the whole scene, beheld the Most
Holy Virgin in the air, tearfully praying for
Christians and the city for a long time. Then
coming near the bishop's throne, that is in the
altar, she continued her prayer. And St. Andrew,
who saw this vision, saintly bishops with her.
angels, apostles. Well, look at the icon. You
see it there. He asked his friend, Epiphanius,
do you see this? And he said, yes, Father, I
see it, and I'm amazed. And during the vision,
the attack of the Scythians simply fell apart.
It just completely, utterly fragmented. So...
The memory of that event in 9 -11, it was remembered.
Of course it was remembered. Something so incredible,
something that hasn't happened since, it could
not be forgotten. And now it's in the life of
the church as a feast day and our feast day here
in this church, dedicated to St. Seraphim, in
this parish, dedicated to the protection of the
Virgin Mary. 1 ,100 years later. Almost every
Sunday we sing these words. Today the Virgin
stands forth in the church and invisibly with
the choirs of saints prays to God for us. Now
for a moment. Think. To many people, will Christians
seem... Absolutely unreasonable these days to
many people. But this story sounds fantastical
to many people. The hymns are nice, but the experience
is very foreign. We say these words, and I believe
them. The Virgin stands forth in the church today
praying for us. We say them, but we don't experience,
we don't see it. We're far from the spiritual
world most of the time. Why is that? I can only
speak for myself. Perhaps it's the same for some
of you. We don't enter very deeply into prayer.
We pursue things that are not good for us. And
about prayer, you know, we will never acquire
quality without some investment of quantity.
We can't shortchange ourself. We find it very
hard to stop, like Martha in that fresco, and
contemplate the words of the Lord. To contemplate
nature and God's hand in it. To contemplate our
own death. Oh yes, we'll have an event like last
week with the funeral of Tom Pelzer, and we all
think about that, and then we're done for a while.
When we should contemplate... The end of our
life and the beginning and the life of the age
to come and the resurrection and the glorious
appearing of our Lord daily because we say in
the creed, I look for the resurrection of the
dead. I await it. I anticipate it and the life
of the age to come. I suppose many of us are
just too spiritually exhausted and our attention,
our spiritual attention is so fragmented often
by our own poor choices. It's not just that we
work too much. We have organized distractions.
And so we end up being cynical sometimes, anxious,
questioning of God, but without actually seeking
to find in God the answer, to pray, to struggle,
to enter into God's answer to his presence. We
are not giving him the chance to speak to us.
We're not like Mary, who chose the better part.
God's language is silence, and we're afraid of
silence. We don't seek silence. We can't abide
it for long. But that's where we're going to
receive from God the answers that we need. Spiritual
world is sort of blurred out for us. It's obscured.
It's out of focus. Today the Virgin stands fourth
in the church. Sounds nice, but it's not our
experience because we're not there with her where
we should be. Nevertheless, I say again, I accept
with complete veracity the reality of that event
in the year 9 -11. It happened once, it hasn't
happened again. But that event is a validation.
It's an acceptance, a joyful, incredibly joyful
pulling back of the veil which focuses our hearts
and our attentions on the reality of heaven and
that which is to come. that there is an unbreakable
bond, an unending bond between the heavenly and
the earthly. That's why we come to divine liturgy.
One body of the church, the pillar and the ground
of the truth, the place of the meeting with God
and man, where we receive the medicine of immortality
in the Eucharist. Where we're united to the Father
through the Son by the Holy Spirit in our baptism.
Where we carry the cross and we proclaim the
cross and we live by the cross. This whole feast
is as if it's a continuation, confirmation. That
until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in
glory, and we say, Christ is in our midst because
he is. When he appears in glory and the world
is healed and we are resurrected and we are deified,
then we will enter into the one ceaseless, untiring
prayer of the Theotokos and the saints before
the throne of God. What else could we mean when
we sing at the funeral? and the panikida, that
their souls shall dwell with the blessed. Again,
what's a healthy parish? All these things I'm
talking about, but one that loves the Theotokos,
and after God, all its members, not just as a
body, but each of us individually at home in
our life, place ourselves under her protection.
Not just in the sign out front, which is good.
Not just in singing various hymns, which is even
better. But by a warm and lively interaction
with the Theotokos through prayer. Following
the Lord. Remember his words. Blessed are they
that hear the word of God and do it. On this
feast, we commit ourselves, we commend ourselves
and one another, one another, to this great vision
of prayer and celebration and joy, giving thanks
to God for those who founded this holy place.
Could we do the same now? We should ask ourselves
that. In any case, I wish you all many years
and the most joyful of feast days. I'm so glad
that we can have it this year on a Sunday when
we can all gather together. Thank you all.