Pastor: Fr John Vazquez | (518) 462-0579 |
fatherjohnvazquez@gmail.com
Tuesday, September 10th—6pm—Dabke Practice for Festival of Nations
Wednesday, September 11th—6pm—Paraklesis of St George
Friday, September 13th—6pm—Great Vespers for the ELEVATION OF THE CROSS
Saturday, September 14th—8am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy for the ELEVATION OF THE CROSS
Saturday, September 14th—6pm—Great Vespers with Bible Study to follow
Sunday, September 15th—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—Memorial for Wahib Barbera to follow Liturgy
Monday, September 16th—8:15am—Coffee with the Fathers at Alias Coffee on N. Pearl St in Albany
Tuesday, September 17th—6pm—Dabke Practice for Festival of Nations
Wednesday, September 18th—6pm—Paraklesis of St George
Friday, September 20th—8am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy
Saturday, September 21st—9am—U.N.I.T.E. Teen Outing—Hiking in the Adirondacks
Saturday, September 21st—6pm—Great Vespers with Bible Study to follow
Sunday, September 22nd—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—Memorial for Scott and Chris Seavey to follow Liturgy and PARISH COUNCIL MEETING
Sunday, September 29th—9am—Orthros and Divine Liturgy—Memorial for Bassir Rezek to follow Liturgy
Sermon—Nativity of the Theotokos
Philippians 2.5–11
OUR HOLY LADY AS EXAMPLE
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit—one God, Amen! Blessed feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos today.
We celebrate that today, and also today is the Sunday before the celebration of the Holy Cross, which is next Sunday, or next Saturday rather.
And so we have this coming together of these two holy days and the readings for today were actually for the cross, instead of the Nativity of the Theotokos but I want to talk about the Nativity today…
I want you to imagine that you have been accused of something that you didn’t do but there is no way for you to prove your innocence—all the evidence points toward your guilt and it is overwhelming and despite your best efforts there is nothing you can do to convince people otherwise.
And so everybody surrounds you—marches you to the edge of the town, they all pick up rocks and throw them at you until you are dead…
Not a good way to meet your end. It is rather a shameful way to meet your end…to encounter death.
Well, this death—this death of shame and pain is what awaited Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus, if she were found to be with child after she was betrothed to Joseph because you see this death of stoning is what is called for in Deuteronomy 22 for anyone who was betrothed and was found with child…
The angel Gabriel comes to Mary and says—you will conceive and bear a child and you will call His name Jesus and He will save His people
And Mary responds—How can this be, since I do not know a man? And Gabriel responds—the Power of the Most High will overshadow you. In other words, this child will be of the Holy Sprit.
And our Holy Mother responds and says—let it be to me according to your word…knowing that that the punishment for being found with a child not from her betrothed was a shameful stoning to death…
This kind of response is only the kind of response from a remarkable person. A person who is wholly dedicated to God. Who loves God so much that she would do anything for Him—even undergo a shameful death.
So, with her nativity today, which we celebrate, we're celebrating someone who came into the world who was perfectly dedicated to God. How does this kind of person come to be?
All of the Old Testament, all the stories, all the wars, all the lines, all the kings, all the different things that happened, the fall, the flood, the call of Abraham, the going down into Egypt, the exodus from Egypt, the giving of the law, all of that is so that humanity can produce this one person that would say yes to God in this way. Our Holy Lady is the best that we have to offer our Lord as humanity.
And so she is, rightly, highly exalted by us. She is one who said yes to God perfectly. And the reading that is assigned for her feast day today says this—Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who did not consider equality with God something to be grasped at, but taking on the form of a servant, he emptied himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, both in heaven and on earth.
That is our epistle that we were to hear for her today from Philippians.
So how does this apply to her? Why would we have that read for her today?
Well, first of all—let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What mind?...
This mind of humility, of self emptying.
God, the Son, came down to earth, he emptied himself, took on the form of a servant. Right? And he became obedient unto death. Even a shameful death. It says, in Greek—He became obedient unto death—a cross death…which is a shameful death….
Because anybody who's hung on a tree is cursed. We hear this from Deuteronomy again (21.23).
So, he became obedient to death, and our all-holy Lady, she was obedient also, knowing that death, even a shameful death, could await her.
So she has this mind that Christ had—this mind of humility that thinks not of herself but of God and of others
She’s so caught up in Him and in love with Him who is her God that she will do anything for Him?
Do we have this kind of love for God?
Do we do what He asks us to do without complaint, without “explaining our situation” to Him, without spelling out the circumstances for Him and reminding Him what the consequences might be.
Do we say—Lord, do you know what you are asking?
I might have to die…
And what is our Lord’s response?
Yes child, you may have to die…like me
He says, do you trust me enough, love me enough, to say Yes to me?
So what can our most Holy Lady teach us through her great example?
How do we imitate her so that we too can, like her, say yes to God fully?
The first thing is to remain pure. Remain pure. Keep our eyes from things that are not holy. Our, most holy Lady lived in the temple, studying the scriptures, doing the things that she was called to do and asked to do. I'm not saying that each of us needs to go be monks or nuns
But I am saying that we need to control and be cognizant of what we're letting into our souls.
What are we watching?
What are we listening to?
What are we reading?
This is where our journey to purity begins—controlling what comes inside of us. And so, make, a commitment to wanting to remain pure.
And control what we let in.
The devil can ensnare us through what we let into our souls. What WE allow. Right?
So, replace some of those not so good things with other things. Try to read the scriptures more. Try to pray more. But it doesn't just have to be those things.
Read good books. Watch good movies instead of bad ones. Right? This kind of watchfulness can extend to every part of our lives. The devil doesn’t take days off—neither can we. Be watchful and remain pure.
The next thing is, we can go to confession. This is another way that we can purify ourselves.
The prayer from confession says—Behold your sins are removed from you as far as east is from the west.
They're not there anymore. They're not there to rise up and accuse you and say HEY, you did this thing REMEMBER?
Don’t fall for that trap. Those sins that you confess they’re gone. And we don't return, like a dog returning to his own vomit, like Proverbs says right? (Proverbs 26.11)
The last thing we can do to imitate our most Holy Lady is practice the Jesus Prayer—Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God have mercy on me the sinner, or Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me, or Lord have mercy.
These words in our mouth purify us.
To have what's coming out of our mouth be pure, holy, and good. Right? And when prayers are coming out of our mouth, and prayers are informing our thoughts and our decisions, then that helps to purify us. And helps us to walk in our faith.
So, control what comes in through watchfulness, confess what’s there already in confession and cleanse your heart, mind and soul through prayer and in so doing imitate our most holy Lady who was obedient unto death—even a shameful death for the love of her Lord.
Most Holy Lady pray for us!
