" In our Divine Liturgy we sing:
It is truly meet to bless thee, O Theotokos, who art ever blessed and all-blamelesss, and the mother of our God. More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim, thou who without stain barest God the Word, and art truly Theotokos: we magnify thee
When we think what she accepted upon herself, what she achieved in her own humanity, and what she gave to the world, how can we ever thank her properly."
The older I get, the more I realize how very important the Theotokos is to me personally. All through my life, in those "dark nights of the soul" we all experience, she has been there for me, comforting and strengthening me, like a mother. There hasn't been a day in many years during which I didn't have a "little talk" with Panagia to ask for her help, maybe a spiritual pat on the head. And I find, again as I am getting older, that when I pray before her icons, I am blessed with the gift of tears. My great grandmother, with her eyes shining, always said Panagia was her best friend. I've lived long enough to begn to understand what she meant by that.
FK, it would be a wonderful thing if you ever came to fully understand and experience what I am writing about.
Only yesterday morning, I listened to EWTN's daily reflections provided by Franciscan Brother Leo Clifford. These repeat and I thought I had heard them all but this one seemed new.
In this particular commentary, he reflected on God's need for us. He needed Mary to give birth to Jesus; He needed St. John to baptize Him in the River Jordan; He needed the young boy with 5 barley loaves and 2 fishes in order to perform the miracle; He needed Simon to help Him carry the cross; He needed Joseph of Arimathea to provide Him with a burial tomb .... etc.
Mary, of course, was the first to say "yes" to God's needs. It is through her that our Salvation was born.
On Monday, February 27, our Lent will begin. Throughout these 40 days, each Friday we will gather in Church to say the Stations of the Cross, culminating with the song of Mary at the base of the Cross, as she beholds her Son.
O My Son O My beloved
See the plight Love brings you to
What distress and What affliction
Wicked men have Laid on you.
O My Son O what transgression
Or what evil Did you do that you
Should be vexed and wounded
with no hope for any cure
Look on me Daughter of Sion
Crushed beneath this might wave
Anguish fills my very marrow
And it leads me to the grave
There is none to be a friend now
And this angry mob to brave
Coming forward to console me
For the suff'ring I endure
Were it not for Mary's "yes", our Savior would not have been born.
You took the words out of my mouth...everything you said, Kolo.
Thank you. I confess I have no idea if that will ever happen, and I fully respect your very moving testimony. Thank you for sharing it.