470. Слово в день Благовещения Пресвятой Богородицы

(Said in the Annunciation Church of the Miracle Monastery, March 25). Having seen it, she was embarrassed by his words, and thought about what this kiss would be like. (Luke 1:29). She, this Virgin, is in such deep immersed solitude, so removed from any community, that the presence of an Angel, who is herself a virgin, led Her into confusion: “having seen, she was confused”; She now opens Her palace, admits into it both virgins and those living in marriage; receives countless kisses, that is, reverent greetings, not only from the disembodied, or disembodied in purity, but also from people with unclean lips; and not only does not become embarrassed, but also calms those who are embarrassed, not only does not shy away from joy, but also fills those who approach with it, not only does not tremble before grace, but also boldly gives it to those who demand it. What a change! Inaccessible to anyone when She was only the “handmaid of the Lord” (Luke 1:38), accessible to everyone now that She is the “Mother of the Lord” (Luke 1:43). Let us take advantage of the convenience of access, let us draw closer, let us begin, not only in order to see the glory of the once unknown Virgin and enjoy this vision, but also in order, if possible, to find out how such a high glory grew from such deep obscurity, and so that from the fruits of the “prisoned garden of the bride” (Song. 4:12) of the Holy Spirit we can take something as seeds for the spiritual garden of our own souls. Come, virgins, and from the Virgin Mary receive confirmation of your feat, contemplating in Her the unquestioningly high dignity - virginity, since it carries God within itself. Come, you who live in marriage, and from those who are betrothed, but not united, receive the blessing of your marriages: since all human marriages would give birth only to children of wrath and heirs of hell, if the Virgin Mother had not given birth to the Son, who regenerates them into sons and heirs of God. Come, you who love solitude, and understand from the reflecting Mary that the seed of solitude is humble contemplation of God; and without this, solitude is often empty stubbornness or cruel hatred of man, a nest of evil thoughts and the vitality of the spirit of madness. Come, those who are partial to the community, and take note that it is not in the bustle of worldly affairs, not in the entertainment of crowds, not in the noise of idle conversations that heavenly powers visit the soul, and the word of God is sown in the heart. But just as it is not possible in a short time to show you all the fruits of Mariin’s heirloom, that is, to depict for your instruction all Her perfections and virtues: then this time let us adhere to one, apparently small branch of the Gospel story about them, taken by us, on which we can however see how someone bowed down with the fullness of power, a bunch of grapes, humble wisdom and wise humility. “Having seen it, she was embarrassed about his words.” The presence of a heavenly messenger who brings with him to the Virgin Mary the presence of the Lord, grace, blessing, joy, “Rejoice,” he says, “thou full of grace, the Lord is with Thee: blessed art Thou among women” (Luke 1:28), the presence of such a visitor, instead of producing genuine joy in Her, leads Her into confusion. “Having seen it, you will be embarrassed.” Why is this so? Is it because She did not recognize the heavenly messenger and initially mistook him for a stranger? But if the sight of a stranger who suddenly came led Her into confusion, then his meek and pious words should have immediately calmed Her down; On the contrary, the Gospel narrative considers these very words to be the cause of confusion: “I was troubled about his words.” Or was She shocked by the appearance of a higher spiritual being, uncomfortably tolerated by the weak and frail human nature, as the examples of Daniel and John show? But Her purity, unparalleled among those born of Adam, made Her unparalleledly capable of heavenly communications; and legend says that the appearance of Gabriel was not Her first experience of such communication. Why is this, although young, but already experienced Interlocutor of the Divine, “confused about the word” of the Angel? Let us hesitate to answer this and bring to mind the tradition that the Virgin Mary, also before the Annunciation of the Archangel, read and understood the prophecy of Isaiah: “Behold, the Virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and you will call His name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14). This example definitely lets us know about the Blessed Virgin what the Gospel stories about Her allow us to guess, that is, that Her spirit was nourished in good time by reading the Divine Scripture, and not only with milk, but also with the strong food of Divine wisdom. And when so: was it difficult for Her to understand that these new and majestic names - “gracious, ... blessed am I ... among women” - the language of the Angels, never unflattering, could give to anyone, except the Mother of Emmanuel? When this is so, was it not convenient for the angelic greeting to bring Her not only to joy, but also to delight? And how, on the contrary, it led Her into confusion: “be troubled about his word.” Now is the time to resolve this issue. It is clear from everything that it must be resolved no other way than by the deep humility of the exalted Virgin. Wisdom and faith spiritually showed Her the image of the Mother of Emmanuel, that is, Christ, in the prophecy of Isaiah, and love and humility then inspired the desire to physically see this sovereign Mother and be Her slave: but the same humility did not allow Mary to see this image in Herself even when “in the word” of the Archangel, so to speak, a mirror was placed before Her. She heard a kiss that was supposed to exalt Her above all others: but the constant desire of Her soul, both always and at this very moment, was to humble herself and humiliate herself above all others. Thus, just as pure water oscillates and flows from the breath of a quiet wind, without losing its purity, but still enlivened by movement: so Mary’s pure soul was shaken by the word of the heavenly spirit, without however changing the purity of her feelings, but still excited for further progress in life according to God. That Mary’s emotional excitement had nothing perishable in it, and Her confusion had nothing unclean; that it was not cowardly timidity, nor an unfaithful doubt about God’s protection in unexpected circumstances, nor a proud trembling of the heart from praise, nor a struggle with the captivating charm of praise, or an attempt to hide the seduction, this is confirmed by the consequences of this embarrassment. Cowardice and lack of faith do not reflect; those seduced by praise do not know how to remain silent, but either respond to affection with affection, or with feigned modest words they reflect the praise away from themselves in order to attract it more strongly. Nothing like this is visible in Mary. Her embarrassment does not deprive Her of presence of mind, and does not take Her out of Her characteristic state, does not wrest from Her a single rash word, does not prevent Her from silently reflecting on what she heard: “I was embarrassed about his words, and thought about what this kiss would be like.” In the event of an accident that befalls, and an accident that leads to confusion, do not get carried away by this confusion, and do not allow yourself to be shaken to the foundation of the spirit, do not indulge in timidity, haste, or courage, do not become arrogant when exalted, close yourself from the upcoming glory with a cover of humility, and at the same time be able to close humility itself from others and from yourself with silence, so that in a humble word the spirit of humility did not run out, against sudden embarrassment, to be ready to heal with calm reflection - to what origin would you attribute these dispositions and actions of the spirit of Mariin - perhaps to the invincible power of prudence and mature spiritual wisdom? So, we see that in the spiritual city of the Bride of God, one of the majestic vegetation was wisdom; and the land in which the root of wisdom and the power of this spiritual vegetation was kept was humility; and that the tool for cultivating the land of humility and protecting it from wild potions was wisdom. She who was destined to become the Matter of the wisdom of God who humbled herself, perfectly had humble wisdom and wise humility. Humility protected Her high wisdom from arrogance and insolence; wisdom processed Her humility so that there was nothing low in it, and so that it was unfeigned, pure and simple. Let us conclude from this example for ourselves that if we want the garden of our souls to bloom with unfading flowers and bear the fruit of eternal life, then we must strive to have humble wisdom and wise humility. Whoever thinks to grow in wisdom without humility wants his garden to grow without soil. Whoever thinks to be content with humility without wisdom wants to have uncultivated land, although it may be rich. What has produced so many diverse opinions about the truth, which is one, so many disputes over opinions, so many errors? What has produced sects in philosophy, heresy in the Church, in civil societies outrageous thinkers about transformations, in the kingdom of God atheists, among the angels of the devil? What? Imaginary wisdom, imaginary, and not true, precisely because this one lacked humility. The imaginary sages of the earth, instead of earth, planted their garden in the air, but the devil planted it in fire, that is, frivolity and pride decided to make it the soil of wisdom. But if imaginary wisdom without humility brings one closer to the devil: then, on the contrary, moving away from wisdom, where does humanity approach, perhaps to dumb nature? If, Christian soul, you hear a voice greeting you with any success in matters of the spirit, and with any perfection, even if it were grace: do not rush to indulge in joy; I wish you better the “embarrassment” of Mary, that is, Her humility, so that the spirit of flattery does not kidnap you to the heights, under which there is nothing but the abyss. If, on the contrary, they tell you that the desire for perfection is dreaming, that the love of wisdom is daring wisdom, that meditation on faith, teaching in the law of God, reading the word of God is either unnecessary or dangerous: listen carefully, does this sound like the voice of an angel, like spiritual teaching, like heavenly preaching? Compare with this the true and pure voice of the Prophet: “Blessed is the man... whose will is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he shall learn day and night” (Ps. 1:1-2). Compare with this the teaching of the Divine Teacher: “test the scriptures” (John 5:39). Compare with this the sermon of the Apostle: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing yourself” (Col. 3:16). Compare with this the example of Mary: no one forbade the young Virgin of Israel from reading the book of Isaiah the Prophet and reflecting on it about Emmanuel. No! Christianity is not foolishness or ignorance, but “the wisdom of God is hidden in mystery, which God hath ordained before the world for our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7), and in which may our success be to the glory of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit forever. Amen. You might be interested in: