WEBVTT 00:00:01.040 --> 00:00:03.200 I want to talk to you today about something very 00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:10.599 important. Today, this day, is so amazing. We 00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.980 had so much already. You heard so many words. 00:00:15.099 --> 00:00:19.239 The subdeacon and Aaron came out and read from 00:00:19.239 --> 00:00:22.800 St. Paul's epistles. And then the deacon came 00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.920 out and he read three different selections from 00:00:25.920 --> 00:00:29.399 the gospel. There's so much. And we can't talk 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:31.739 about it all. But I just wanted to say, here's 00:00:31.739 --> 00:00:35.039 what we're doing today. Today is the Lord's Day. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:39.060 That's how you say Sunday in the Greek language. 00:00:39.119 --> 00:00:43.060 You say Kyrieki Imera. The Lord's Day. It's in 00:00:43.060 --> 00:00:46.060 the paper, the Sunday paper, the Lord's Day paper. 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:51.759 And in Russian, you say Voskresenia. That means 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:55.380 resurrection. Sunday is resurrection day. And 00:00:55.380 --> 00:00:58.719 that's right. Every Sunday is a little Pascha. 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.460 We can't do Pascha every single week. We would 00:01:02.460 --> 00:01:05.099 never get to work on Monday or Tuesday. We'd 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:08.799 be exhausted all week long. We can't do Lent 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:11.640 all the time because that's like going to boot 00:01:11.640 --> 00:01:14.400 camp here and here out. You just don't do that. 00:01:14.519 --> 00:01:18.060 We exercise our spiritual life in a certain way 00:01:18.060 --> 00:01:21.239 for a certain time and then we celebrate Pascha. 00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:26.159 But every Sunday we have Holy Communion. Every 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:29.099 Sunday we have the Divine Liturgy, and that's 00:01:29.099 --> 00:01:34.120 why it's Pascha. Because we celebrate the Lord's 00:01:34.120 --> 00:01:37.540 Resurrection. That's the first thing. Today's 00:01:37.540 --> 00:01:40.079 Sunday, so it's about the Lord's Resurrection. 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:43.799 Do you know that those that were baptized, and 00:01:43.799 --> 00:01:45.400 you could see them, they're wearing their white 00:01:45.400 --> 00:01:48.359 robes today, but you also were baptized. I baptized 00:01:48.359 --> 00:01:51.099 lots of you. You don't have to raise your hands, 00:01:51.299 --> 00:01:54.230 but there's a lot of you. It's my honor and joy, 00:01:54.430 --> 00:01:59.590 absolutely. You also know something about the 00:01:59.590 --> 00:02:04.469 resurrection because Christ is with you. And 00:02:04.469 --> 00:02:08.409 Christ died and he rose and he will never die 00:02:08.409 --> 00:02:10.810 again. And now he sits at the right hand of the 00:02:10.810 --> 00:02:14.990 Father and he rules all things. And you are in 00:02:14.990 --> 00:02:20.169 him and he is in you. When you're afraid, when 00:02:20.169 --> 00:02:23.629 you're anxious, When you're not sure, remember, 00:02:23.909 --> 00:02:30.030 Jesus is with you because you're baptized, because 00:02:30.030 --> 00:02:33.169 you went to communion. Remember, Jesus sits with 00:02:33.169 --> 00:02:36.789 the Father and all things in the entire universe 00:02:36.789 --> 00:02:41.810 are in his hands. The second thing we celebrate 00:02:41.810 --> 00:02:46.789 today is a feast day. It's actually a birthday. 00:02:46.849 --> 00:02:51.280 Whose birthday is it today? Mary's birthday. 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:54.400 Anybody else have a birthday today in our parish? 00:02:55.900 --> 00:03:00.340 September 8th? Well, that's probably good because 00:03:00.340 --> 00:03:03.180 then we leave it all on the Virgin Mary. How 00:03:03.180 --> 00:03:05.259 do we celebrate a birthday of your friend? What 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:09.680 would you do? You go to the house. Maybe you 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.819 have a present. Hopefully there's a party. There's 00:03:12.819 --> 00:03:16.900 a cake. You sing happy birthday. There's a toast. 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:21.560 But there's something else we celebrate today 00:03:21.560 --> 00:03:24.819 before I get back to the birthday. And that is, 00:03:24.879 --> 00:03:30.120 today is the Sunday before the feast. There's 00:03:30.120 --> 00:03:33.400 another feast coming up next Saturday. The Sunday 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:37.039 before the feast of the exaltation or the elevation 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:40.759 of the Holy Cross. We bring the cross out at 00:03:40.759 --> 00:03:42.900 the end of that. Matins service on Friday night. 00:03:43.060 --> 00:03:46.400 And then we sing. What do we sing? before thy 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:50.039 cross, right? And we sing, O Lord, save thy people, 00:03:50.159 --> 00:03:53.759 and we celebrate. So today's the Sunday before 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:58.780 that. And it's very important that we remember 00:03:58.780 --> 00:04:05.400 that God has begun our salvation, not just with 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:10.300 that day, the cross, not just with Christmas, 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:14.819 when he became... when he was born of a Virgin 00:04:14.819 --> 00:04:18.399 Mary. But even before that, and even before that, 00:04:18.500 --> 00:04:25.519 that is when the Virgin Mary was born. He started 00:04:25.519 --> 00:04:29.540 everything. Well, he started everything before 00:04:29.540 --> 00:04:32.980 that even, but that was one important stop. Her 00:04:32.980 --> 00:04:37.279 birthday today, we sang, and let me ask you a 00:04:37.279 --> 00:04:42.019 question. We sang, today proclaims joy. To the 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:47.519 whole universe. The whole universe. Everything. 00:04:47.939 --> 00:04:51.600 Every city. Every town. Every place. In heaven 00:04:51.600 --> 00:04:54.920 and on earth. The bottom of the sea. In outer 00:04:54.920 --> 00:05:00.420 space. The whole world. If you're listening. 00:05:01.740 --> 00:05:05.759 You can receive this joy. The joy of the Virgin 00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:09.079 Mary's birth. If we were at her birthday party. 00:05:09.689 --> 00:05:14.689 And this is her birthday party today. We honor 00:05:14.689 --> 00:05:21.050 her. If you were there at a regular party, you 00:05:21.050 --> 00:05:23.410 would want to have a toast. You'd ding, ding, 00:05:23.410 --> 00:05:26.629 ding, ding on your glass. You'd stand up. I'd 00:05:26.629 --> 00:05:29.449 like to make a toast in honor. And what would 00:05:29.449 --> 00:05:33.129 we say to the Virgin Mary? We would say something 00:05:33.129 --> 00:05:39.350 like, you were born. to the most wonderful parents 00:05:39.350 --> 00:05:45.970 probably that ever lived, Joachim and Anna. Your 00:05:45.970 --> 00:05:48.550 parents wanted a child. They couldn't have a 00:05:48.550 --> 00:05:52.029 child. They tried to have children. They didn't 00:05:52.029 --> 00:05:54.829 have children. They felt very ashamed because 00:05:54.829 --> 00:05:59.490 in that culture, not like our culture, having 00:05:59.490 --> 00:06:03.009 children, especially if you were in the line 00:06:03.009 --> 00:06:07.319 of the Messiah, meant that you might, bear the 00:06:07.319 --> 00:06:10.439 child, that would be the Messiah. They could 00:06:10.439 --> 00:06:13.500 have no children. They prayed, they wept, they 00:06:13.500 --> 00:06:18.800 prayed and they wept. When they were old, God 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:21.959 granted them a child, Mary. And we would say 00:06:21.959 --> 00:06:25.879 at her birthday party, your parents, they never 00:06:25.879 --> 00:06:31.699 gave up. And God showed how he could turn something 00:06:31.699 --> 00:06:36.939 so sad into something more wonderful. And you 00:06:36.939 --> 00:06:41.720 were born. And the whole universe now hears about 00:06:41.720 --> 00:06:47.180 the joy. What joy? That from you, oh holy lady, 00:06:47.259 --> 00:06:53.600 is going to be born Jesus, which means the Savior. 00:06:54.699 --> 00:06:58.319 Jesus, the Christ, the anointed one. And you 00:06:58.319 --> 00:07:00.480 that were just baptized, you were anointed. You 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:05.600 became small Christs today. And your place is 00:07:05.600 --> 00:07:08.939 now in heaven. It says with the firstborn. Oh 00:07:08.939 --> 00:07:13.639 my gosh. And that's all of you. And that's because 00:07:13.639 --> 00:07:17.899 of the Virgin Mary. That she, her faith then 00:07:17.899 --> 00:07:21.879 in God was so pure. When she was a young child 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:29.360 like you, Celeste. Or like you, Trinity. Her 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:32.680 faith was so pure and she loved God so much. 00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:40.699 Do you know that she kept her heart pure? Yes, 00:07:40.699 --> 00:07:44.399 she was tempted. Yes, she was tempted to sin. 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:48.519 But her heart was so in love with God that she 00:07:48.519 --> 00:07:52.879 never committed terrible acts like what we do 00:07:52.879 --> 00:07:57.040 all the time. She never rebelled. She was joyful. 00:07:57.259 --> 00:08:04.220 She was unusual. She was... A human. She's not 00:08:04.220 --> 00:08:10.680 superwoman. But God chose her because she was 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:13.279 pure of heart. And so we would say at her party, 00:08:13.379 --> 00:08:17.819 O Holy Virgin Mary, you became the censer to 00:08:17.819 --> 00:08:20.819 hold Christ the incense. You became the candle 00:08:20.819 --> 00:08:24.180 to hold Christ the flame. You became the table 00:08:24.180 --> 00:08:28.399 to hold the Holy Communion. You became the chalice 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:31.959 to hold Christ. You became the one that shows 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:35.200 us that we can hold Jesus Christ within ourselves 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:37.940 too. On this feast day, I want you to think, 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:41.659 and I'll end with this, what present you can 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:47.059 give to the Virgin Mary today. It's pretty simple. 00:08:48.120 --> 00:08:52.259 You can give your joy. Give your joy, that's 00:08:52.259 --> 00:08:56.019 all. Can you try and stay joyful all day, no 00:08:56.019 --> 00:08:59.789 matter what happens, no matter what thing? occurs 00:08:59.789 --> 00:09:02.070 to you that you didn't really want to happen. 00:09:02.129 --> 00:09:06.809 Can you remain joyful? We can do that. And once 00:09:06.809 --> 00:09:09.789 you remain joyful, then you're offering unto 00:09:09.789 --> 00:09:13.070 the Virgin Mary another gift, and that is to 00:09:13.070 --> 00:09:18.330 God too. The gift of love. The gift of kindness. 00:09:18.549 --> 00:09:22.909 The gift of purity of heart. The gift of, well, 00:09:23.049 --> 00:09:30.049 prayer. The gift of prayer. So, Bring your present 00:09:30.049 --> 00:09:35.350 to the Virgin Mary today. Try to keep your attention 00:09:35.350 --> 00:09:39.190 not on stuff outside. You know when we're in 00:09:39.190 --> 00:09:40.970 church sometimes we start thinking of something 00:09:40.970 --> 00:09:44.190 else and pretty soon we're thinking of lunch 00:09:44.190 --> 00:09:46.990 or maybe something at school tomorrow or what 00:09:46.990 --> 00:09:48.490 you're going to wear or what you're worried about. 00:09:49.750 --> 00:09:53.889 Bring your mind back. Like take it like you have 00:09:53.889 --> 00:09:56.830 a bird and you put it in this cage. That's your 00:09:56.830 --> 00:10:01.669 soul. And try to keep that joy and that love 00:10:01.669 --> 00:10:04.970 and that prayer for God on this day of the Virgin 00:10:04.970 --> 00:10:08.649 Mary. The Sunday before the Feast of the Cross 00:10:08.649 --> 00:10:11.730 and the day of the resurrection of our Lord. 00:10:11.830 --> 00:10:13.690 To him be glory now and ever.