Sunday School Corner

"Hail.... to Mary, Mother of God,
majestic treasure of the whole world,
the lamp unquenchable,
the crown of virginity,
the sceptre of Orthodoxy,
the indestructible temple,
the dwelling of the Illimitable,
Mother and Virgin ..
Hail to You, who contained Him,
Who cannot be contained in your holy virginal womb".

St. Cyril of Alexandria

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You say: "I can't figure things out"
God says: I will direct your steps (Proverbs 3:5-6)
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Traits of Simplicity, (the “Good Ground”) (cont. from last week)
+ Obedience
+ Innocence
+ Modesty
+ Affability
The mother of God is recorded to have done lots of merciful acts to the extent of giving away her food (oral tradition). The little that the four gospels have recorded about St. Mary reveals her loving character to her relatives, neighbors and her Son’s disciples. As a prayerful, sociable person, she did not miss being with the apostles the night of the descent of the Holy Spirit; thus receiving the Holy Spirit just like them, although she was not assigned the service of Evangelism.
+ Transparency
Having been purified by the Holy Spirit, the blessed Virgin became golden both in her inward and outward man. The Old Testament refers to her purity and transparency by the Covenant tabernacle which was gilded from inside and outside. Thus the Blessed Virgin Mary knew neither cunning, vile, duality, nor deceit.
+ Flexibility
A woman of no choices and no preferences, the Blessed Virgin Mary was so flexible to all circumstances and surprises. Travelling from one inn to the other only to be met with closed doors, giving birth to her Lord and Savior in a manger, and a lot of other hardships were just means to strengthening her endurance and patience and preparing her for the grand performance, that of seeing her Son go to the cross of His own accord for no crime he had committed.
+ Receptivity
No one can fathom the magnitude of the message delivered by a messenger from heaven to a fourteen year old simple Jewish girl. The only inquiry that the Virgin Mary allowed herself to make was concerning the logical impossibility of such an event to take place “How can this be, since I do not know a man” (Luke 1:34). The angel’s answer to her question, if submitted to human logic and analysis, would not be much of a help to anyone who is not anchored in faith. Yet St. Mary was totally, obediently receptive. Again, she received the Prophetic Word from Simon the Elder concerning her anguish for her son’s agony with receptivity and obedience “yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:35).
That is why she had been rewarded with the Prophetic Word that she will be honored by all generations “henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke 1:48).
+ Perceptivity
St. Mary’s perceptivity resulted from the wisdom the Holy Spirit had granted her. She was a woman of no “idle” talk. The four gospels have recorded only four phrases uttered by the Mother of God. She was more of actions than words; for the former speak louder than the latter. In spite of the wonders that she saw and heard happen before her, she kept everything in her heart “But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19). To no one, not even her Son’s disciples did she talk about her Son and the time before He started His ministry at the age of thirty.
+ Readiness
The Mother of God is an emblem of genuine humility in genuine service. Any other woman, having known, who she was about to become because of Who she was carrying in her womb, would have sat and rightfully expected myriads of angels to come and serve her. Instead, we see St. Mary had forgotten herself and got concerned about Elizabeth, her relative who was great with a child in her sixth month. She hurried to visit her and stayed almost three months there, only to disappear before the other women came; thus escaping mention; “and Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house” (Luke 1:56). St. Mary’s readiness got the hundred fold reward. For before she had time to announce the glory that had been bestowed on her, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb declared it bowing down in honor and worship to the King of Kings that she was carrying.
+ Vulnerability
In spite of the fact that she was the mother of God, St. Mary proclaimed her need for salvation just like any other human being “my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47) calling herself “maiden” rather than queen or lady of Honor.
+ Power
“Awesome as an army with banners”, St. Mary’s powerful simplicity was functional before and after her departure to heaven. We see her exercising her maternal power when she went looking for her missing Son even in the temple; and in a very few authoritative words she let Him know how she felt about His disappearance from home (Luke 2:48). A word from her convinced her Lord and Savior to go out of His way, divert His plan and perform His first miracle at the Wedding of Cana. Mistaken are those who think that the role of St. Mary ended with her delivery of her Son. On the contrary the power of that “Dove of Noah’s Arc” is still functional. History records stories and stories of the Virgin Mary performing acts of power. One of the most interesting stories is when she repeatedly appeared to Caliph Maamoun, forcing him to write a letter to command the prince to stop ruining the churches in Egypt. When he protested that he had no messenger to carry the letter from Syria to Egypt, she exercised her ultimate power by carrying it herself in a dove–like capacity. Thousands of years before the appearance of St. Mary on the stage of history, the Old Testament’s prophets prophesied about this simple, obedient, innocent, loving, receptive, perceptive, powerful Jewish girl who deserved to be chosen to become the Mother of the Savior of humanity. She has been likened to “Noah’s dove” (Genesis 8:8-12) bringing about good tidings; a cloud ridden by Christ (Isaiah 19:1), Golden Censor (Hebrews 9:4), Aaron’s rod (Numbers 17:1-10), the Golden Lamp (Exodus 25:31- 35) to mention just a very few. May the prayers and supplications of St. Mary, the Mother of our God be with us all. Amen.

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There was an old lady living in a village. She had never owned or been in a car before. One day she was returning home from the supermarket, carrying a big heavy basket on her head. A rich man was riding his car and saw her. He was kind enough to offer her to drive her home because of her heavy basket.
She thanked him and entered the car. On the way, the man glanced to the lady in the mirror, and he noticed that she was still holding the basket over her head. Astonished, he asked her to put down the basket and rest. The old lady naively replied: Oh my son, your car is carrying me and this is enough, I should not burden it carrying my basket too.
What an innocently funny response!
We do the same with God.
He carries us through the day and still we insist on carrying our heavy baskets of worries and fear of the future, work, money, marriage, kids, spouse and family.
We are carried by almighty hands and watched over by sleepless eyes, so please stop carrying your worries.

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A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal,
A rod in Moses’ hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it’s in!

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