Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore Thee and the breasts which Thou hast sucked.’ But He said, ‘Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.’
One wonders whether the unidentified “woman of the company” might have known the Mother of our Lord. She certainly had good cause to say what she said when you seriously pause to consider just Who the Most Holy Virgin bore in her womb for those nine months. “[B]y reason of her surpassing purity,” sings the Church at the “Lord, I Call,” she “became the receiver of the everlasting Essence.” Perhaps we are too overly familiar with the Christmass story to allow the punch of that thought to startle us. But, Mary of Nazareth was the only woman in the history of the whole universe – past, present, or future – to carry in herself the untouchable fire of the divine nature! “For our God is a consuming fire,” says the Word of God, yet in her own most holy body the Blessed Virgin carried God in her most pure womb and she remained unburnt (Ex. 24:17; Hb. 12:29)! No one can come face-to-face with God Himself and survive, yet this most blessed soul among all women of every time and every place did just that as a witness and testimony of the profound grace of God bestowed upon her at the Annunciation (Ex. 33:20)! “’Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women,’” the Archangel declares, which astonishes this most pure Maiden. But, the Archangel assures her she has found grace with God and announces to her that she will conceive in her womb a Son Who is God Most High. And, of course, we know her response. It is the gold standard of the Christian Faith and life: “’Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word’” (Lk. 1:26-38).
A few years later, at the Wedding in Cana of Galilee, we find this most blessed woman, the New Eve, urging those partygoers to yield to her divine Son and God. “’Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it,’” is her straightforward counsel, consistent with her own heart’s desire and prayer all her earthly days (Jn. 2:5). Our Lord doesn’t diminish His beloved Mother when He re-directs the praise of the unidentified woman in today’s Gospel, but rather He heaps further laudation upon her. Indeed, “’blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it.’” Blessed is this woman, Ever-Virgin and the Mother of our God, who has faithfully and diligently obeyed the Word of God by surrendering her own self to God, that is, she offered unto God her own physical body to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, as her reasonable worship (Rm. 12:1), to be the grace-endowed womb for the Birth of God into His creation, specifically for our redemption and our sanctification and our theosis. This is the legacy of the Theotokos that endures even until today, and all generations call her blessed (Lk. 1:46-55).
What will your legacy be when you die? What will mine be? Have you ever thought about how you will be remembered or how you would like to be remembered at your dormition? Not only is our Lady the model disciple of Jesus par excellence, in life and in death, but she is the icon of our destiny, being the firstfruit of her Son’s own most glorious Resurrection and Ascension into Heaven. This is what we have to look forward to if we but, like her and with her, listen to the Word of God and do it, surrendering ourselves into the hands of God lock, stock, and barrel. For what good is it, beloved, to hear the Word of God if we have no desire to receive it or to do it?
We find, however, in our Lady Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary the utmost desire to receive the Word of God and, equally, to do it. This is her precious legacy she bequeaths to us on this Feast. She may not have understood (fully nor even partially for that matter) what was being asked of her by God, but she did trust God – the God of her Fathers, the God of her saintly parents, Joachim and Anna, the God and Father of her only-beloved Son, Jesus. Faith doesn’t need to necessarily understand (generally, such understanding comes only as hindsight from the obedience of faith), but it knows God and is willing to become the vessel of God’s grace and mercy. “’How shall this be,’” our Panagia asks the angel, “’seeing I know not a man?’” “’The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee,’” the angel replies, “’and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. . . . .’ And Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word’” (Lk. 1:34-38). “’Thy will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven’” (Our Father).
Love for God and faith are her enduring legacy bequeathed to us – her sons and daughters – along with the obedience of faith. Like her beloved and holy Child, Jesus, she, too, was obedient, even unto death, though unlike Him she did not suffer Crucifixion (Pp. 2:5-11). Yet, she did suffer His Passion. She suffered His Cross. For all who follow Him are to daily pick up their Cross with Him and follow in His steps (Mt. 16:24; Mk. 8:34; Lk. 9:23). She suffered the piercing spear and anguish, even as the old God-receiver, Simeon, foretold. “’[Y]ea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,’” he forewarns her in the Temple (Lk. 2:35). Still, she does not waver, does not falter. She is found in faithful vigil at her Son’s Cross, keeping watch until that dread last moment when the Creator and Redeemer – hers and ours – cries out His last, commending His spirit into the hands of His Father.
Because of her faith, because of her love, because of her obedience, her God and ours has highly exalted her (Pp. 2:5-11). Now, all generations magnify her who is the most humble maidservant of God Most High. She has fulfilled in fullest and most perfect measure in herself by her unblemished devotion the likeness of God to which we are all called since we, too, bear the image of God. Indeed, moreso than us, she has far exceeded all creation, even those angelic beings traditionally closest to God! “More honorable than the cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the seraphim,” the Church sings of her who is higher than the heavens (Small Vespers, “Lord, I Call”). With creation and all of the hosts of Heaven she, too, confesses her Son and beloved Master (of Whom she is His first disciple) is “Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Pp. 2:5-11)!
Perhaps in no other Mariological feast do we see the intimate Mother/Son relationship as we do here in the “deathless Dormition” of our Lady Theotokos. There is tenderness and compassion which only a son can give to his mother. So loved by her Son in His Death that He cared for her from the Cross by giving her into the hands of His beloved Disciple, John (Jn. 19:25-27). So, even now, He comes to receive her soul at her departure – her exodus – from this world. As the Church sings, however, in dying she does not forsake the world (Dormition Troparion). Having been translated to Life “by the One Who dwelt in her ever-virginal womb,” she now stands in the Presence of her great God and King as His Queen and Mother, where she continues her prayerful intercessions for this world and for our souls (Dormition Troparion/Kontakion). Before His throne “she entreats Him without ceasing to grant the inhabited earth peace and great mercy” (Great Vespers/Litya).
She who is higher than the heavens and more glorious than the cherubim, she who is held in greater honor than all creation, she who by reason of her surpassing purity became the receiver of the everlasting Essence, today commends her most pure soul into the hands of her Son. With her all things are filled with joy and she bestows great mercy upon us (Small Vespers/”Lord, I Call”).
Therefore, beloved, “Let us all venerate and implore her: Forget not, O Lady, thy ties of kinship with those who commemorate in faith the feast of thine all-holy Dormition” (Great Vespers/Litya).
Most holy Theotokos, save us!
Through the prayers of the Theotokos, O Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.
Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
VIGIL PROPERS: PROPERS:
Gn. 28:10-17 Pp. 2:5-11
Ek. 43:27-44:4 Lk. 10:38-42; 11:27-28
Pr. 9:1-11