“Mary said…Let it be to me according to your word” Luke 1:38

My beloved brothers and sisters in Christ Our Only True Lord, God, and Savior,

CHRIST IS IN OUR MIDST! HE WAS, IS, AND EVER SHALL BE.

"Mary said… Let it be to me according to your word" [Luke 1:38]

Mary’s faithful response makes her THE HIGHEST MODEL OF OBEDIENCE to God. The Incarnation of the Son of God is not only the work of the Holy Trinity, but also the work of the will and the faith of the Virgin. Therefore, the Virgin Mary is honored not only because God chose her, or because she bore the Son of God in the flesh, but also because she herself CHOSE TO BELIEVE and OBEY GOD FIRMLY.

In Christ are two wills, HUMAN and DIVINE; His human will is obedient to His Divine will. Through His obedience, His salvation brings healing to our will. Therefore, "many"–that is, those who believe in Christ–"are made righteous" and able by grace to participate willfully by faith in God’s righteousness. "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross" [Philippians 2:8]. Our Lord, God and Savior showed the fullness of humility by His obedience to the death which has enslaved humanity.

Our Lord and the Theotokos are the most excellent examples of true obedience. As Orthodox Christians celebrate the Holy Dormition of the Mother of God they are also taught numerous spiritual lessons to inspire and assist all those who are struggling to overcome their sinful lives and seek guidance to attain a greater and lasting relationship with the Savior of the world Jesus Christ. One essential lesson is the necessity and significance of genuine obedience. There can’t be any kind of progress and spiritual growth without obedience.

Saint John Climacus writes: "As flower comes before every fruit, so exile of body or will precedes all obedience." "Obedience" writes Saint John Climacus, "is a toral renunciation of our own life, and it shows up clearly in the way we act. Or, again, OBEDIENCE is the mortification of the members while the mind remains alive. Obedience is unquestioned movement, death freely accepted, a simple life, dange face without worry, and unprepared defense before God, fearlessness before death, a safe voyage, a sleeper’s journey. Obedience is the burial place of the will and the resurrection of lowliness… Indeed, to obey is, with all deliberateness, to put aside the capacity to make one’s own judgment."

Furthermore, Saint John states, "He who is submissive is passing sentence on himself. If his obedience for the Lord’s sake is perfect, even when it does not appear to be so, he will escape judgment. But if in some things he follows his own will, then even though he thinks of himself as obedient, he takes the burden onto his own self."

Our Holy Church reminds us constantly of Adam’s expulsion from Paradise. God commanded Adam to fast (Genesis 2:16), but he did not obey. Because of their disobedience, Adam and Eve were cast out of Eden and of the life of blessedness, knowledge of God, and communion with Him, for which they were created. Both they and their descendants became heirs of death and corruption. We too are invited to cleanse ourselves of evil through fasting and obedience to God. Our fasting should not be a negative thing, a mere abstention from certain foods. Itis an opportunity to free ourselves from the sinful desires, and urges of our fallen nature, and to nourish our souls with prayer, repentance, to participate in the divine services of our Church, and partake of the Life-giving Mysteries of Christ.

As one can clearly see that our Orthodox liturgical tradition is essential to our spiritual life and development. Everyone should make a sincere effort not only to follow it but to understand it and to benefit from it. We, as Orthodox Christians, are constantly educated through sacred music, hagiography, architecture, the Mysteries, fasting, repentance, prayer, worship, the Holy Scripture and the Sacred Tradition of the Church. The intent is to bring us closer to our faith and through it to our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ.

"What is obedience? In the common meaning of the word, obedience is submission to
someone else’s will. The commandment of obedience is the very first in time, the most
ancient, for while still in Paradise, in their original state of innocence, our first father
and mother were already given a commandment of obedience–not to taste of the fruit
of a certain tree–the transgression of which commandment let to their exile and death".
[Egoumenissa (Abbess) Thaisia, Letters to a beginner)

Let us instead emulate and imitate the divine example of our Lord and our Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary!

_____________
"Glory Be To GOD
For
All Things!"
– Saint John Chrysostomos
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With sincere agape in His Divine and Glorious Diakonia (Ministry),
The sinner and unworthy servant of God
+ Father George