Hebrews 2:11-18
Hymn to Most Holy Theotokos
Luke 1:24-38

"According to Thy Word"

And Mary said, "Behold the Handmaid of the Lord.
Be it unto me according to Thy Word." And the angel departed from her.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

The great question of Lent is decision. This has been so from the moment of human creation. For decision is the kernel, the living nucleus, the beating heart of human freedom. God is not a puppet master, nor has He the least interest in robots. Such pastimes are for inventors whose powers fall short of life. But the One Who does create life understands. He understands that the living spark of life must be free in order to burn with divine fire. In Eden, our Creator underlined this all-important point by ordaining choices. Humans might choose which names to call the beasts. They might choose what to do or say to the Lord God. And they were given the freedom either to aspire upward to God's Divine Will or to reject it, descending beneath it.

The story of humankind is the history of monumental decisions. In Eden: there were once two people who had everything in the world. But they wanted more, more than everything in the world. So they traded away everything in order to receive .... nothing and less than nothing (Gen 3:6): disease and death and fear. Among the Patriarchs: Esau chose his brother Jacob's porridge preferring the moment of his ravening appetites over the holiness of his birthright and God's blessing (Gen 25:29). Lot chose the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah over the sublime wilderness of God. During the Exodus: the people Israel chose the fleshpots of Egypt over the Holy Mountain (Ex 16:3). In ancient Israel: King Saul chose the paltry spoils of his rivals over kingship and divine blessing (1 Sam 1:13ff). We might go on listing scores of other examples. But this is enough. It is enough for us to see the great craft and power of the evil one, for over and over and over again, God's chosen ones, in their sovereign freedom, elect to give away everything, receiving in return nothing .... and less than nothing:

And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, ...
And the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel. (1 Sam 15:35)

Among the greatest ironies of human history, beyond the catastrophic outcomes of bad choices, is the failure to understand the nature and power of this gift. People look out on the rubble field of human consequences — pollution, rotting cities, weapons of mass destruction — and then blame God for not "making the world a better place." Few consider this question from the other direction. For God's unbreakable promises, God's inviolable integrity, and God's trustworthiness are the very reasons that prevent Him from taking control of the human lifeworld. In His gift of freedom, God handcuffs Himself from overthrowing our power:

The highest Heavens belong to the LORD, but the earth he has given to mankind. (Ps 115:16)

We do not stop to think that we impose the limits on God's powers on earth. In this sense, God waits upon us nearly as a servant.

The Discalced Carmelite Teresa of Avila wrote,

Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours.
Yours are the eyes through which he looks with compassion on the world. Yours
are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through
which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet,
yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.

Or to borrow St. Paul's words,

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body,
though many are one body, ... so it is with Christ ... the body does not consist of
one member but of many ... the foot ... the hand ... the ear .... the eye ... (1 Cor 12:12-18).

Christ's body is ourselves. And He waits upon us to do what He would have us to do.

When we reflect on the κενωσις — the self-emptying of God's Son, pouring out His divinity that He might take on our humanity — we must pause to consider the cosmic dimension of this act over all the Creation. God pulled back His Divinity from the Creation ... made from the stuff of His own Divine Goodness, to be sure. He pulled in the boundaries of His Almighty Power on earth to make room for us, for our sovereignty.

Of course, the powerlessness of our God is seen nowhere in sharper focus than at the Crucifixion of His Son. As the Son of God says plainly,

"My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight ..."

His servants in Heaven? Why these are "Angels and Archangels and all the Company of Heaven." And we are never far from that very special phrase, "Almighty God."

It turns out, at least on earth, that powerlessness is among the Divine Attributes. It is, therefore, an attribute that we must imitate, seeking lowliness and humility. As the Son of God said,

But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place. (Lu 14:10)

.... the one who loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mt 16:25)

And, most important,

"... not My will, but Thine, be done." (Lu 22:42)

Indeed, the Son has taught us that this is the first thing we must say to the Father:

"Thy will be done."

We serve God most truly when we push down our egos and listen attentively and reverently. And our Father in Heaven will not fail to guide us perfectly and abundantly. First among these divine counsels are the two examplars of all human life: Jesus of Nazareth and His Mother, whom we adore as the Most Holy Theotokos.

The Son of God was not condemned to do this, but rather chose it freely. As St. Paul has written,

Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better
than yourselves... Have this Mind among yourselves, which was in Christ Jesus,
who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing
to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in
the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became
obedient unto death, even death on a Cross. (Phil 2:3-8)

Obedient unto death and on a cross. Death, which is the essence of being human, and A Cross, which is the essence of humiliating mortality — His decision for the highest kind of love, human or divine, the sacrificial love of a man for His friends.

And the ideal of womanhood? The Most Holy Theotokos is set before us as the great exemplar for all women — faithful, humble, and silent in her watchfulness.

Today, one of the Church's greatest solemnities, The Annunciation, we celebrate the perfection of her lowliness and her reverent attentiveness. But let us first ask, "Who is the least powerful person in the first-century world?" The answer, of course, is, "a peasant woman." And least powerful among these is a child. It was one such as this — a lowly peasant girl child — from whom Almighty God, the Lord of the Universe, required permission for His Son to enter human history. And our Ever-Blessed, Ever-Virgin Mary offered something more than her "Yes." She offered complete conformance to God:

"Behold the Handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto to me according to Thy Word."

That is, she offered that her being should be made in accordance with the form of God's Word. She took the form of a servant and was remade in the likeness of the Son of God, entering a mystery that rises far above the powers of the mortal mind: the lowly Mother giving birth to Her Creator.

As the Fathers have abundantly written, with the Yes of this humble girl, the Holy of Holies of Zion's Temple (which was the unique dwelling place of God according to the Jews) would henceforth be supplanted by her most gracious Person: the Dwelling Place of God, and, forever after, the only Temple, where our prayers are offered and heard in personal intimacy and with unprecedented clarity.

She is the chaste and clean slate who has emptied Herself of all busy thoughts and words that we might fill Her with ours. She is the listening heart like no other. Her strength and compassion inspired Peter to drop to his knees and weep into Her smock. In silence. Always in silence. The silence of the understanding Mother. The silence of holiness, which does not bestir the still waters. The place of confidence and knowing, where we are completely heard and understood. She is your Mother. Kneel before Her. Weep at Her knee. Confide your burdens and trials to Her. You will find in Her a wise silence, watchful in Her love, and desiring to protect you from the ravages of this world within the safety of Her mantle and cloak.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.