The Maternity of St Anna (a few days late)

Sorry that this entry is being uploaded late, tis finals week, and the auto schedule was for the wrong date.

In the Name of The Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In our Liturgy, we pray in response to the presentation of the Holy Gifts, "One is Holy, One is Lord, Jesus Christ, to the Glory of God the Father, Amen." It is from this point, I wish to talk about the feast of the Maternity of St Anna.

God by his very nature is Holy. The Theotokos is holy by Grace, not anything on her own merit. Or put another way, Mary is by grace, what God is by nature. Traditionally this feast is not celebrated on the 8th of December, but rather the 9th, a day later, because The Theotokos is human, and Christ makes up for what is lacking. (And St John the Forerunner's conception is celebrated on the 23rd of September, one day early in anticipation, for being the greatest of the prophets....(a rather nice note))

The Troparion for the day tells us "Today, the bonds of barrenness are loosed, for God has heard the prayers of Joachim and Ana. He promised beyond hope, the birth of their godly daughter. The Indescribable, himself, born of her as a mortal commanded us through the angel to sing to her: Rejoice, O woman, full of grace, the Lord is with you."

Our Kontakion tells us: "Today the whole world celebrates how Anna becomes a mother by the power of God, She conceived the woman whose conception of the Word is beyond our words."

You'll notice, that in both of these situations, it's neither the Theotokos of Ss Joachim and Anna who are the focus, but rather Our Triune God, all through the power of God. For without God, we are nothing.

This is what we should remember on this day, the power of God can overcome anything, and we too can become by grace, what God is by nature. The Theotokos is the perfect example of this.

Let us the faithful, extol the Theotokos, the ever flowing Fountain of Life, radiant Beacon of Grace, Living Temple, and most pure Tabernacle, more spacious than earth and heaven.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

What I learned Weds # 2 I think

I had been intending to join my friend Emmy, and her what I've learned Weds, but I've been extremely lazy at blogging, and since I'm even lazier to change the icon to a guy kneeling, I won't :p

Thus here we go:

1) Cats do have hearts. In spite of them thinking that they rule the universe (and let's not get it twisted, they do)...just look at this cute kitty :)...after 3 weeks of not seeing me, and being cat sit by a friend of mine, here's what I come to :)

2) In the Byzantine Liturgy, there are multiple ways of celebrating it. In the Russian tradition they sing the troparia (plural of troparian) of both the Sunday proper and of the Saint that is being celebrated each Sunday. Like Last Sunday they sung the psalm for both the Sunday after Theophany and St Tatyana. In the Ruthenian Byzantine tradition, they do not do this, with the exception of solemn feast days.

3) For those of you that know me, IRL, know my trust of people is extremely thin. It has nothing to do with this post actually. The third is that, I'm actually better at Russian than I thought, and I'm making fewer mistakes....the un-announced big announcement will come later. Do keep praying for me :)

Until next time

Pax Vobis