20080511 Homily on Mothers Day and the Sunday of the Myrrhbearing Women
Acts of the Apostles 6: 1-7
St. Mark 15 43-16:8
Christ is risen! Indeed He is risen!
Last week, I spoke on how Christʼs ministry was entrusted to His Apostles and then to their spiritual heirs, the Bishops, and how this Apostolic Succession was the institutional incarnation of Christ Himself, preserving within it the Truth and the means for our salvation. Yesterday, I, along with several other members of this parish, were witnesses as the next link in this chain was forged and joined: the Bishops of the Holy Orthodox Church ordained Archimandrite Daniel to the Episcopate. It was a glorious celebration, overflowing tears of joy and a confirmation of the promise that Christʼs Church would prevail until the end of days.
On a personal note, I must admit that as great as it was to worship and visit with the many dozens of my friends, brother priests, deacons, servants, and leaders of our Holy Ukrainian Orthodox Church in the USA; as great as it was to receive communion from the hands of our Metropolitan Constantine and Bishop Daniel, as great as it was to receive the blessing of our hierarchs for myself and this community, as great as it was to see my friend ordained to episcopate - as great and wonderful as all these are - it is no less wonderful to be back home to celebrate the love of Our Risen Lord with you, by dear family, friends, and spiritual children (Yes, I can personally tell you that there is no greater sight than our beautiful golden domes at 3:30 AM at the end of a very long, and tiring - albeit fruitful- roadtrip).
Today we have the coincidence of two celebrations that belong together: Motherʼs Day and the Myrrhbearing Women. And before I go any further, please let me recognize all of our mothers, both physical and spiritual. On behalf of all of the faithful, we thank you for your love and your service. May God grant you all many blessed years.
St. Nikolai Velimirovich wrote some wonderful poetry that builds on these themes of motherhood and myrrhbearing. I would like to paraphrase and build upon them here for you: it is for good reason that “caring for the dead” is recognized as one of the seven bodily acts of mercy: the love that it witnesses is completely altruistic and pure. Is the love of a mother any different? Is there any greater witness to Godʼs love than that of the mother and the one who cares for the dead and their memories?
Memories of the dead are an interesting phenomenon. We are in the midst of the season when we visit and bless the graves of our departed love ones. When we keep the memories of those who have gone on before us, we are struggling to keep the lights of their lives shining against the darkness of this world - to keep their memories alive in a fallen world that would prefer to scatter their ashes to the wind and thus, as it were, send them to oblivion. St. Nikolai points out that this is especially true of Mothers. When a mother through tragic circumstances, outlives her children, her memory and love for that child endures in her heart, continuing to overshadow her love even for
herself. A motherʼs love does not differentiate between her children who remain to walk the earth and those who have gone on to their rest. The same is true of Christʼs love for us. Look at His life described in the Gospels: he first witnessed to save the living, but then went into Hades to witness to and save his beloved children there.
I want to quote St. Nikolai a moment, but before I do, let me point out that what he says is true not just of mothers, but all who care for the departed:
“A mother goes to the graves of her children, as though to raise them to life in her soul, to redeem them by her tears, to have compassion on them by her thoughts. A motherʼs love saves her children from disappearance and annihilation in this world, at least for a time. The Lord. humiliated and spat upon, succeeded, through bowing to His Cross and Tomb, in truly raising the whole human race by his love, and saving it forever from vanishing away and being annihilated. Christʼs act is incomparably greater than the act of any lonely mother in the world, His love for the human race being immeasurably greater than the love of any mother in the world for her children.” (from his homily for this day)
After all, Christ did not just visit the dead to commit their souls to everlasting memory. He suffered His passion and died on the the cross, so that through His Resurrection, all of his children who were dead in sin might believe in Him, and through this have everlasting life in abundance. Death has been defeated - Christ has trampled it down with His death. The Holy Myrrhbearers were the first witnesses to the resulting Resurrection of Christ, and they went on to share this good news with the Apostles, and today, through this Gospel, with us. May we go on now to share it with a world that needs to hear it.
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