In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
Beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord! The most terrible punishment for parents is the disobedience of their children. It is very painful to see how your child strays from the right path, violates the commandments of God, sinking more and more into the abyss of darkness and moving further and further away from God and his parental home. The parental heart does not find peace for a single minute—it constantly worries, suffers, is tormented, tears are a parent’s daily “food”. If we could see a mother’s heart with our spiritual eyes, we would be horrified by the sight of it alone: We would see a picture of the main human organ maimed and scarred.
But there is no heart that suffers more in this world than that of our common dear Mother—the Most Holy Theotokos. There is no sorrow, problem or grief to which She would be indifferent. There is no prayer request that she would not hear, or would ignore. History carefully preserves in its memory the feast of the Holy Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos, which we are celebrating today; and although this event took place in the distant past, the Protecting Veil of the Theotokos is spread over us to this day. This feast is a vivid testimony of the Mother of God’s care for the world. The All-Holy Virgin is like a Heavenly bird that gathers its chicks under its wings, protecting them from evil. The Most Pure Virgin Mary covers all mankind with Her protecting veil. As a loving Mother She does not cease to believe in each one of us, praying for us and patiently waiting for our reform. A mother never abandons her child, especially when the child is in distress or on the verge of death. Likewise, the Mother of God always hastens to rescue us once we call out to Her. As long as we do not lose hope of the intercession of the Mother of God, we will never perish.
The Most Holy Theotokos is a Mother of many children. It is not only the Infant Jesus (as we see on icons) that She holds in Her arms, but also the whole of humanity. After all, at the Cross on Golgotha She adopted all of us, making us Her sons and daughters. It is impossible to describe in words the countless miracles performed through the prayers of the Mother of God. There will never be enough words of gratitude to worthily praise our All-Holy Mother.
Let’s admit honestly that we are ungrateful children. Needless to say, we do not always treat our living parents with respect—we can be rude, irritated; we can argue and offend them. With such an attitude to our parents, how will we learn to love the Heavenly Mother? We cause much pain and suffering to Her. We are indifferent to what She does for us and do not appreciate Her prayers and care. More precisely, maybe we express our gratitude and appreciation in words, but we testify to the opposite with our lives.
How can we melt the ice of insensibility in ourselves? How can we learn not to trouble the Theotokos?
Any parent is happy when his children try to be like him. Brothers and sisters, let’s imitate the beloved Mother of God, and become like Her in word and deed. After all, Her whole life was a fountain of spiritual wisdom and a treasury of Divine grace. Let’s draw abundantly from this inexhaustible spiritual source.
As a very young child the Mother of God acquired the habit of prayer, fasting and reading the Holy Scriptures. Let’s also cultivate in ourselves constancy in prayer, fasting and reading the Holy Scriptures. The core of spiritual life is constancy. Just as athletes train daily and become professionals in their field, so a Christian who forces himself to perform spiritual feats daily acquires the skill of doing good and becomes an invincible warrior of Christ. If we give up praying and reading the Holy Scriptures even for one day, if we begin to neglect fasting, then our souls begin to cool down to everything spiritual, and we become crude and carnal and stop caring about our souls—For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit (Gal. 5:17). In this spiritual state we become vulnerable to the devil and yield to the power of sin.
The Theotokos was modest even in everyday things. She was a Virgin not only physically, but also in Her soul. She always dressed simply, she owned only two tunics, which She gave to two poor widows before Her death. In conversation with people She was prudent in Her words, avoided empty and idle talk and jokes. Even her gait was without any unnecessary body movements, and Her speech was quiet and calm. Likewise, dear brothers and sisters, let’s love modesty, which is the basis of humility. A truly modest person does not exalt himself before others; even if he has virtues, he does not brag about them, knowing that they are a gift from God. According to the Holy Fathers, true modesty manifests itself in the way we behave in public. The state of our souls is manifested in our gestures, body movements, gait and speech, because our outward self-expression in fact reflects our inner state. To put it simply, what is in our hearts is on our lips. So, let’s love wise laconicity, let our communication with our neighbors be saving, and let’s say only what is useful for the soul.
Dear brothers and sisters, let’s turn our eyes to the Mother of God more often. Whenever we want to commit some sin, let’s remember that we upset our Heavenly Mother with this. Let’s learn to be obedient to God by the example of Her life. Let’s show our love for the Mother of God in our good deeds. Woe to the Christian who does not honor the Mother of God—such a person deprives himself of Her prayerful support. Today both Heaven and earth are rejoicing, and let’s exclaim together with the Angels of God: “Rejoice, O our Joy, protect us from all evil beneath Thy Protecting Veil.” Amen.
