Annunciation 2022

Each of you, I wish a joyous and spiritually

profitable feast day. It is joyous. It is joyous,

and we're invited to enter into that joy from

wherever we stand, from whatever state our mind,

our soul is in. That day marks what the hymn

says is the crown. It's the beginning, the fountainhead

of our salvation. God's son becomes the son of

the virgin. The joy is not something that we

can work ourselves up into emotionally or aesthetically.

Something will go wrong. We may be moved by the

singing. That's good. The icons, the poetry.

The hymns, the ceremony, these are wonderful

things. And for sure, we affirm that for centuries

and centuries, men and women have created countless

works of art, music, hymnography, poetry, inspired

by this feast. Maybe more than any other feast

except Christmas. I don't know. I haven't checked

on that. and souls have been elevated and sanctified

and filled with godly virtue in striving to enter

in to the joy of this feast by a way of life

that is inspired by the Theotokos, by this good

news, the Evangelion, the good news of a victory

that is here beginning, and we see where it's

going. Our modern world has an entirely different

focus, and it can't relate to this feast. Minds,

hearts, feelings are so powerfully drawn instead

to the tragedies in the world, which we have

to acknowledge, and the suffering which we acknowledge,

and the violence and the deliverance and the

divisions. We try to find out and know what we

can about these things, but our answer is to

respond with prayer and tears, with fasting,

with alms. Just recently, the church gave us

the reading from Genesis as the first week of

Lent, so we're not surprised. Cain kills his

brother. This is the state of the world. And

the Lord says to Noah, well, there's Lamech also

murdered. And then the Lord says to Noah, he

looked upon the earth and indeed it was corrupt.

For all flesh had corrupted their way on the

earth. And God said to Noah, the end of all flesh

has come before me. For the earth is filled with

violence through them. We can't forget. The profound

suffering that man inflicts upon man. But we

also don't forget, and the church made this clear,

that the way back is through paradise. And the

knowledge and understanding and the good news

of the gospel is there for everyone. It is not

a secret. So, if there's darkness of sin, we

can still find our way to the joy of this feast.

And it's important that we do struggle to find

the way into the joy of this feast. It's not

going to be delivered to us. God is with us.

That's the joy of this feast. St. Proclus of

Constantinople in his very long sermon, it would

take us a half hour at least to read it, reminds

us that the mother of God, the Virgin Mary, it

is she that has gathered us together. You thought

you just came on your own. She gathered us together.

He says she is the pure treasure of virginity,

the intended paradise of the second Adam. You

see, paradise again is given to us. The place

where the union of nature's divine and human

was accomplished and the council of salvific

reconciliation was affirmed. How can we not?

In her presence, being gathered, find a way to

rejoice today. St. Paul says that Christ came

to destroy him that held the power of death,

that is the devil, and through fear of death

brought all into bondage. That is over with Christ.

Let me end with this small portion of a sermon

by St. Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, 19th

century. He said this in his sermon for today.

During the days of the creation of the world,

when God uttered his living and mighty words,

let it be, let there be light, the creator's

words brought creatures into existence. But on

the day unique in the existence of the world,

when Holy Mary uttered her humble and obedient,

Let it be. I would hardly dare to express what

took place then. The word of the creature caused

the creator to descend into the world. God uttered

his word here also, saying, You will conceive

in your womb and bear a son, and he will be great,

and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,

and of his kingdom there shall be no end. But

again, that which is divine and incomprehensible

occurs. The word of God itself defers its action,

allowing itself to be delayed by the word of

Mary. How can this be, she says. Her humble let

it be was necessary for the realization of God's

mighty let it be. What secret power is thus contained

in these simple words? Behold, I am the handmaiden.

of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your

will. That it produces an effect so extraordinary.

This marvelous power is Mary's pure and perfect

self -dedication to God, a dedication of her

will, a dedication of her thought, of her soul,

of her entire being. Aren't we asked to love

God with all of that? of all her faculties, of

all her actions, of all her hopes and expectations.

These days, we find it hard to find joy. We forget

that Cain killed his brother. We forget that

we're called to paradise and we're immersed in

the mud all the time. And we end up interrogating,

repeatedly questioning God, sometimes convicting

him. Let's find the courage, brothers and sisters,

to raise our souls up, to say to God, as did

the Theotokos, let it be according to thy word,

Lord, and our heart and our mind and our will

and our actions be united to God's will in absolute

obedience to him, as she did. You want to emulate

the Theotokos? That's how we do it, in humility.

And there's freedom, the freedom to let God act,

and the freedom that we are not enslaved to ourself

or that pesky and awful and hideous creature

that turned away from God, the devil, who held

the power of death, but no longer does. This

feast is about freedom in God, in his love. his

and ours. Only then, maybe we can truly say,

let it be, O Lord, according to thy will, and

only then, maybe, find the joy of this feast

to rejoice. Sprasnikum.