Myrrhbearing Women 2022

So that we could come to this day and enjoy it

spiritually, profit from it. We spent no little

time The time of Great Lent, time preparing for

Great Lent, the time of Holy Week. So that the

spiritual lesson, the spiritual lesson in this

gospel, that there's a stone over the tomb, the

women are coming to anoint Christ. How will they

possibly move this stone? It is very great. And

it's gone when they get there. It's moved by

the angel. It's not that Christ kind of got up

and moved the stone. He passed through as he

came to the apostles in the upper room and the

doors were locked. The stone was removed. All

the lessons, the work we did, the hymns we sang,

the prayers, the vigils, is so that as St. Ignatius,

this great bishop of the 1800s in Russia said,

that stone... is a stone of insensibility. Well,

what's that? Sounds like something you need some

kind of cream for. The heart, the heart of the

baptized man, woman, or child is to be the altar

for God, where he is enthroned. Our body is the

temple of the Holy Spirit, and within that temple

is this altar. Insensibility, says Saint Ignatius

Brianchanadov, is when our spiritual feelings

are deadened. When we feel bored when we pick

up the scripture and we can't concentrate. When

we have continuous distractions, both within

ourself and from outside. Constant, yes, voluntary

sins in which we don't oppose ourself. Forgetfulness

of God, forgetfulness of what it said about Joseph.

He awaited the kingdom. Inattention, superficial

attention, boredom with spiritual things, even

lack of attendance in church, lack of prayer

at home. That's insensibility. All Lent, we spent

begging God to remove that stone from the covering,

the heart, so that we could rejoice, so that

we could get over all of that. We could feel

compassion and mercy and love towards God. That's

what we need to have accomplished to come to

today. Well, as the Lord said about the Pharisees,

whatever they say, do, but as they do, don't

follow them. I'm speaking of myself here. So

follow what I say, just don't do what I do, and

you'll be fine. Let me get to this gospel now,

having cleared the way spiritually. I'm intrigued.

I'm always amazed. And I'm very much comforted

that the church gives us such accounts as we

had today. If you were paying attention, you

know, sometimes we don't pay attention during

the gospel reading. But if you were paying attention,

you heard this amazing ending. The angel spoke

to the women. See the fresco up there? They were

afraid. They were told to speak to the disciples.

They went away and said nothing. They did exactly

the opposite. They were so confused. The church

wants us to return to the experience of Joseph

and Nicodemus, the secret disciple, and the myrrh

bearers because they had lost their hope along

with the apostles. Who were in hiding and did

not believe the women when they did tell them.

You know, if we don't feel like utter failures

in our life sometimes, we don't have a very realistic

view. I don't mean all the time. But we follow

the Lord, our Savior Jesus Christ, who chose

that path to save us. The women and the Apostle

John, whose memory we celebrate today, were at

the cross at the worst, the most devastating,

disappointing, and dark time. Utter, complete

failure is what it looked like. So if we sometimes

feel that way, we go to the cross and we see,

Jesus, you passed through that way, and you lift

us up. The women went to the tomb of Christ out

of love on that first Pascha. In the darkness.

Spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and actually.

Knowing they were unable to roll that stone away.

Knowing that they could not anoint the body of

Jesus and that's where they came. They were afraid.

They were in tremendous grief. But they were

not timid because they came despite the obstacles

and they knew the soldiers were there. Those

women were there from the start of Jesus' ministry.

They remained with him always to the end. They

were not only there with him when he was speaking

and doing miracles and attracting crowds. but

when he was abandoned by everyone else. Our Christian

life is like that sometimes. They were there

when he was arrested, when he was crucified,

when he was put on the cross as a criminal. They

remained at the foot of the cross and stood by

him as he was taken down. They were there for

the burial by Joseph and Nicodemus. Then they

returned to that tomb on Sunday morning before

the dawn. They would not allow fear or threats

to keep them away from the Lord. And such is

the nature of our Christian life. Look at that

fresco. I see three figures, basically. The soldiers,

the angels, and the women. Look how the soldiers

are huddled together. What's that tell us? That

tells us that, yes, The world has power to harm

and to hurt us. But it means nothing because

Christ has overcome death, and death does not

separate us from God, no matter what the threats

are. Look at the women standing there. They stand

over those soldiers. Spiritually, those soldiers

have no power whatsoever over them. The world

has no power over us. Don't think that the world

is going to, at some point, if we are only good

enough or educated enough, things will be great

and we'll hit some kind of utopia. The world

is in darkness. Men prefer the darkness rather

than the light, says Jesus, our Savior. Expect

it to continue in that way with violence and

hatred. And craziness. But look at the women.

That's us. Being ministered by the angel. He

is not here. He is risen. Go tell the disciples.

You know, the gospels also don't give us psychological,

emotional portraits or information. But one might

claim that even in their grief, They didn't complain

about and condemn the apostles who weren't there,

who had abandoned the master. Where are those

guys anyway when we need them? They all ran away.

None of that. This tells me that we need also

to do our Christian duties, our Christian ministry,

our tasks, to accomplish them. our own ministries

without worrying about what others are doing

or not doing. You know who you are. Or judging

them for their lack of devotion. My first point

after all that is to say let us maintain our

devotion to Jesus Christ to the very end. To

his holy body, the church. Because we love him.

Because if we love him, we love those that he

created. And the church is his body. And if there

are those within his body, and in the creed,

by the way, what do we say? We say we believe

in one holy Catholic and apostolic church. We

believe in it. If there are those within the

body of the church that may betray the Lord,

that may be seeking a place out of pride, who

may deny him, that may be fearful and run off

when the going gets difficult. And I'm only talking

about the apostles. I'm not even talking about

us. Those within the body have no fear. We remain

in love and focused on Christ and ministering

to his body in love, in action. It's not something

you can accomplish by thinking about it. Prayerful

action equals faithfulness. Last week was about

faith. This week is about faithfulness, which

leads to knowledge, which leads to trust in God's

providence, which leads to firm discipleship.

Do not be timid about your faith, about what

you can say to others. Don't be arrogant either.

Be humble. On this Sunday of the Mary bearing

women and Joseph and Nicodemus, we also have

this reading from the Acts of the Apostles about

the institution of the Holy Diaconate. The word

deacon simply means servant. The Apostle said

to those gathered, you choose. Seven men of good

report, good reputation, full of wisdom, and

full of the Holy Spirit. These were not dummies.

Just read what St. Stephen says in the next chapters

when he preaches. Deacons were chosen to manage

the charitable work of the church so that the

apostles could remain. focus on witnessing to

what they saw in Christ, what they heard from

him, and what they knew. That is, it tells us,

the word of God. When you hear the word of God,

you think maybe Bible study? There was no Bible.

It was preaching the word of God, witnessing

to the kingdom of heaven. Acts chapter 2 tells

Acts 2 · chapter mention

us that 3 ,000 converted on the day of Pentecost.

Acts chapter 4 tells us 2 ,000 converted after

Acts 4 · chapter mention

that and so on and so forth. So the deacons were

not serving meals like they might do in our parish

hall. Thousands of people were being ministered

to. They were managing offerings, food distribution,

care, love, attention to the many, many poor

people and the widows and the orphans. Incredible

work. Think about it. Ministry Sunday. That's

for us today. How it will work out, only God

can tell us, will show us later. But it's about

being inspired by the apostles, by the women,

by the deacons, to care for the church. So we

read that after the deacons began their ministry,

what happened? The word of God spread. and the

number of disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem.

And a great many priests, that is Jewish temple

priests, were obedient to the faith. The church

grew. Let's ask ourselves, how are we doing in

comparison to this reading from Acts? How are

we doing in comparison to the reading from the

Gospel of Mark? Clearly, today's readings, the

memory of the myrrh bearers, the fact that today

is Mother's Day, and I congratulate you on that

precious, admirable, and holy thing that you

are. This is about today, ultimate examples of

sacrificial giving. Compelled by, inspired by,

If Christ is in the heart, if the stone has been

rolled away from us, from the tomb of the heart,

if we are alive with God's love, then it will

be a healthy sacrificial giving. It will not

be one in which we burn out. It will be from

God himself. Consistent. Humble service to the

Lord for the building up of his church, for the

care of his body. Not a body in a grave, but

his living, continuing incarnation in the form

of the members of the church by living lives

that bear witness to the victory of the resurrection.

Over sin, over death, over self -centeredness,

over laziness, and that we don't have any excuse

now to serve the Lord, the church, our families,

the people around us, every day of our life.

Christ is risen.