Sunday before the Nativity

Scripture Lesson for this week                      Sunday before Nativity – Tone 2

Epistle: Heb 11:9-10,17-23                                            Gospel: Matt 1:1-25

 Scripture Lesson for next week                         Nativity of Christ– Tone 3

Epistle: Gal 4:4-7                                                  Gospel: Matt 2:1-12

 ANNOUNCEMENTS:

·        Nativity Services:

o   Christmas Eve: Saturday, December 24^th Vespers, 5pm

o   Christmas Day: Sunday, December 25^th Divine Liturgy, 10am

• Poinsettias: If you would like to order poinsettias in health of memory of a loved one, you may do so through the Candle Table. Thanks!
• Prayers: Please keep in your prayers Martha Spanovich, who is recovering from a fall, Steve Dailey, Ann Fry's nephew-in-law who just has his leg amputated after an accident. Also, please keep in your prayers Joeseph Seif, who is a very close friend to Sub-Deacon Dan. He has a brain bleed and has suffered through a few strokes. He is currently in ICU. As always, please keep Sub-Deacon John Dodovich's brother, Philip, Diana Clance's father, Bernard, and Nadejda Hunter in your prayers.

MOTHER OF GOD AND EVER-VIRGIN MARY
"The child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit"

The veneration of the Virgin Mary as Mother of God is firmly rooted in the doctrine of the Incarnation – that is, the human birth of the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ - which is the central message of Christmas. In the very word 'Theotokos' is revealed the mystery of the Incarnation. The Virgin Mary gave birth to God in the flesh (Jesus Christ), one person with two natures – human and divine. We venerate the Mother of God always in the light of her role in the Incarnation. We do not venerate her simply on account of her own virtue, but in virtue of the fact that Christ entered the world through her. This is why most icons of the Mother of God show her with Christ in her arms. The veneration of the Mother of God is something that some non-Orthodox Christians are not comfortable with. Does not all this veneration of the Virgin Mary overshadow Jesus Christ? This is almost the knee-jerk reaction of such people when looking upon the significant position of the Virgin Mary in Orthodox worship. But is it not odd that the idea of revering the Mother of God can seem strange, while the idea of worshipping someone who has a mother does not strike us as equally strange? The simple fact of the matter is this: there would be no Jesus without Mary. To venerate the Virgin Mary is to revere Christ becoming a man for our salvation, to fall down in awe before the great mystery of the Incarnation. He Whom heaven itself, even the highest heaven, could not contain is contained in the womb of a young woman! The Ancient of Days becomes a newborn child! He Who existed before the world began is born of a virgin! How can we worship God without revering His coming to earth and revealing Himself to us as flesh and blood? But how can we remember this without remembering the woman from whom He took flesh? And how can we remember her without wonder and adoration? This is why we have such a profound reverence for the Mother of God. For in this very word, 'Theotokos', is contained the whole mystery of the Incarnation and the salvation of the human race! The Mother of God is hailed also as Ever-virgin (aeiparthenos). The Church Fathers and hymns refer repeatedly to this paradox: virginity and motherhood are in nature mutually exclusive, but in the Mother of God the two opposites meet and are joined together. Christ was born not of man but of the Holy Spirit, and Orthodox Tradition holds that the Mother of God remained a virgin after the Birth of Christ as well as before. Some Christians contest this, quoting as their argument a passage in the Gospel of Matthew (13:54-56): "When Jesus had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?" Orthodox Tradition understands these brothers and sisters as 'siblings' from a former wife of Joseph, and not from Mary. Furthermore, "The terminology of Israel… made no distinction between brothers and cousins but referred to all as "brothers". "Mary had become the mother of all mankind through giving birth to God. She belonged completely and utterly to Him: "Becoming the vessel for the Lord of Glory Himself, and carrying in the flesh Him whom heaven and earth cannot contain, surely would have been grounds to consider her life, including her body, as fully consecrated to God and sexual relations as unthinkable. Even in the comparatively minor (and strikingly parallel) incident of the Lord's entry through the East gate of the Temple in Ezekiel 43-44, prompts the call: "This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord God of Israel has entered by it; therefore it shall be shut" (44:2)". Whenever we revere the Mother of God, we remember Christ; we venerate His divine humility and condescension: "Today the Virgin gives birth to him who is above all being, and the earth offers the cave to him whom no one can approach; Angels with shepherds give glory, while Magi travel with a star; for to us there has been born a little Child, God before the ages".