Thank-you for that sermon by Blessed Augustine. It is supremely Orthodox. Lines like these:
“...did she not do the will of the Father? Indeed the blessed Mary certainly did the Father’s will, and so it was for her a greater thing to have been Christ’s disciple than to have been his mother, and she was more blessed in her discipleship than in her motherhood. Hers was the happiness of first bearing in her womb him whom she would obey as her master.”
are why we overlook other, ahem, “odd” notions and call him a “Blessed Father”.
Almighty God, source of every blessing, your generous goodness comes to us anew every day. By the work of your Spirit lead us to acknowledge your goodness, give thanks for your benefits, and serve you in willing obedience, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, the blessed Theotokos acknowledged God's goodness when she sang "my soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior", she gave thanks when her song continued "God the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name"; and she offered herself in willing obedience when she said "be it done to me according to thy word".
The obedience of Joachim and Anna led to Mary's obedience, which led to the obedience of the Word made flesh, becoming obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!