The Protection of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary

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.