270. Слово на день Благовещения Пресвятой Богородицы

(Said in the Chudov Monastery on March 25th; printed in the Works of the Holy Father, 1852 and in the collection of 1861) Consider what this kiss will be like (Luke 1:29). You see that the Blessed Virgin is reflecting: and, it seems to me, she teaches us to reflect. Let's explain. When Archangel Gabriel, sent to announce to her the incarnation of the Son of God from her, began his annunciation with the greeting: “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women”; Then she, as Saint Luke says, “was troubled by his words,” and, as the Archangel himself deeply saw, she was afraid. For he, as a spirit, saw through silence what was happening in her spirit, and said: “Do not be afraid, Mariam” (Luke 1:28–30); Consequently, he saw fear in her. What happens to us when we become confused and afraid? “We tremble, we utter a cry, we try to run away, and sometimes we get so lost that we cannot control our thoughts, words, or movements. This is our imperfection, cowardice, weakness. This should not have been in the blessed Virgin; and this was not in her. Due to the action of an external reason, having involuntarily felt embarrassment and fear, she immediately restrained her embarrassment and moderated her fear. How? - Through reflection. "Thinking". “There is nothing,” argues the Wise One, “nothing... is fear, except the deprivation of the help that comes from thought” (Wisdom 17:11). The Wise Virgin did not remain deprived of this help for long, but immediately took advantage of it. "Thinking". Both the cause of her confusion and fear, and the subject of her reflection, was the extraordinary greeting of the Archangel. “I was troubled by his words, and thought about what this kiss would be like.” The Archangel called the Virgin Mary “grace-filled,” that is, filled with the lofty gifts of God, exceeding natural kindness, and “blessed among women,” which, according to the property of the sacred language, means: blessed above all the wives of the entire human race. It is not surprising that she became confused and afraid from this, like a person suddenly delighted with heights. How did she look for “the help that comes from thoughts” and find it? The Archangel's gaze could penetrate into this; we can only comprehend this by fortune telling. What will I do, she probably thought? – Will I accept an unusual greeting? “I’m afraid that this will not be counted against me as exaltation.” Will I reject it? “Am I afraid that by my unbelief I will offend not only God’s Messenger, but also the Sender?” I will wait in silence for what God will reveal next. - So, she did not accept the high greeting, and thus retained her humility; but she did not reject it, and thus preserved her faith. And while maintaining humility and faith, she retained that pure disposition of spirit that made her capable of accepting the highest revelation of God. To the Divine Annunciation that she would give birth to Christ God, that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, only the most perfect humility could respond in a worthy manner: “behold the handmaid of the Lord,” only the most perfect faith could say with unabashed boldness to the Archangel: “Walk to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). You see, brethren, that the Mother of God, in one of the most difficult moments of her spiritual life, sought help for herself in meditation, pious and humble, and in fact found help for herself in it. And if the Spirit of God showed us this feature of her spiritual life in the Gospel Scripture; and “the great thing was written by the Lord, which was written in advance for our punishment” (Rom. 15:4): then we must admit that by her example He teaches us pious meditation. From the fact that in the Gospel we see the Mother of God using reflection in one of the difficult cases of life, we should not conclude that she only used reflection in such infrequent cases. From experience we know that whoever has not trained himself to think and has not acquired the skill in it, does not know how to find help in it in a sudden and difficult case. So, if the Mother of God, in a sudden and difficult case, found help for herself in reflection, then this shows that she had previously accustomed herself to reflection and acquired skill in it. Thus her teaching, taught to us by example, is expanded; and we must conclude that pious meditation should be a constant companion of a person in spiritual life. Just as a tree grows from a seed hidden in the ground with its fruits, so from the thoughts hidden in a person’s soul his moral life with its deeds arises. According to the type of seed nourished by the earth, there is a plant and a fruit; According to the type of thoughts nourished by the heart, there are life and deeds. Whoever allows himself to have thoughts that are scattered, fickle, and uncontrolled by reasoning: naturally, in his way of life, there must be absent-mindedness, inconstancy, and disorder. So, put pious and good thoughts in your mind and heart, so that a pious and virtuous life will grow; and, moreover, do not throw them superficially, accidentally, at random, but, like a skillful and careful sower, with reasoning, in order, in moderation, put them in the deep reins of the mind and constantly feed them with the feelings of the heart; and just as the earth, from the seed entrusted to it, deepens the roots within itself, and thereby helps the plant to rise and expand outside: so you should, through reflection and contemplation, like the roots of a plant, deepen the holy and good within yourself, so that your active life will rise in deeds and expand in the abundance of good deeds. In our time, when people, more than before, “seek the thoughts of many” (Eccl. 7:30), when from the early years of life they try to stimulate and intensify mental activity, when in the variety of thoughts of many they seek imaginary education, grace, pleasure, self-interest, glory, when therefore souls are so easily sowed with thoughts of tares, it is especially necessary to appeal to people to think thoroughly, purely, sublimely, pious. But we see in the Holy Scriptures that even in the times of ancient simplicity, God himself taught people pious meditation. “Hear to Israel,” says Moses at the command of God, “The Lord our God is one Lord,” and: “thou shalt love the Lord thy God”; and, in order to root these main truths of piety in the people of God, Moses continues: “And let these words, which I command you this day, be in your heart and in your soul, and let your sons be chastened with them, and let those who sit in the house speak about them, and those who walk along the way, and those who lie down, and those who rise up” (Deut. 6:4-7). From the words: “lying down and standing up” one can see that “verb” means in Moses a conversation not only with others, but also with himself, that is, reflection. The prophet David proclaims blessed the man whose will is in the law of the Lord and who learns in His law day and night. How can one study the law of God day and night? In the time of David the world was not so filled with teachers and books as it is now; and even with the abundance of teachers and books, one cannot spend day and night with them. However, not just any dreamer, but the Prophet promised bliss and indicated, as a means of bliss, teaching in the law of God day and night. How is this possible? – Perhaps through pious meditation and heartfelt prayer; because a person can do this, in the words of Moses, “sitting in the house, and walking along the way, and lying down, and standing up.” Christian brothers! What if in the teaching that Moses and David, of course, not without success, taught to the old and carnal Israel, we, who call ourselves the name of the new, spiritual Israel, turned out to be unsuccessful? Wouldn't we be ashamed? Wouldn't we be worthy of severe condemnation? Let us not be negligent, as David instructed, to seek bliss by studying the law of the Lord day and night. Let us be careful, according to the instructions of Moses, to think about God and about pleasing Him, “while sitting in the house, and walking by the way, and lying down, and standing up.” Why do you often allow your thoughts, like untrained and untamed horses, to gallop without control, without a path, without a goal! Train yourself to “bring them ... with reins and bridle” (Ps. 31:9) with a strong will and thorough reasoning, and, depending on the need, either bring them to peace, or direct them along the right path, to a useful goal, mainly, to the great goal of your existence - to God, to Christ, to heaven, to eternity. Would you say that the objects of this world involuntarily amaze your feelings and captivate your thoughts? It is true that they may involuntarily strike your feelings; but they do not have the power to captivate your thoughts if you yourself do not surrender to this attraction. You can, especially with the help of God, “turn away your eyes”, “even if you do not see vanity” (Ps. 119:37), or looking at the sensory with your spiritual eye, you can, in the image of the blessed Saint Tikhon, “gather up spiritual treasure from the world.” “Everything,” says Saint Macarius, “that is subject to our gaze is the shadow and image of things related to our soul.” And therefore, as he teaches, “when you look at the sun, look for the true sun, for you are blind. When you stretch your gaze to the light, turn your eyes from there to your soul, and see if you have the true and good light in it, that is, the Lord” (Conversation 33). It is especially characteristic of a Christian to diligently extend his heartfelt thoughts to the One whose name he bears on himself - to remember the life of Christ the Lord in order to follow Him, to delve into His teaching and commandments in order to be able to fulfill them, to reverently contemplate His suffering and death on the cross, for the sake of the cleansing of our sins, and His glorious resurrection for the sake of our blessed resurrection, in order to thus nourish and strengthen our faith, love, hope, may Christ God live in man while still on earth, and then, may man live in God in heaven forever. Amen. You might be interested in: