Homily I on Saint Mary the Mother of God

1Every recognizing tongue fittingly greets the Virgin as the God-bearer, imitating the power of Gabriel, the chief of the angels.

One says to her, 'Rejoice!' while another cries out, 'Lord from you,' because the Lord, having been born from her, appeared to the human race in the flesh.

One calls her the Mother of Light; another, a Star of life; another proclaims her a Throne for God; another, a Temple of heaven more magnificent. Another names her an incorruptible, fruitful, and uncultivated Garden; a well-clustered, flourishing, and untouched Vine; a pure turtledove; a stainless Dove; a Cloud receiving the rain without corruption; a Ship whose pearl outshines the sun; a Metal from which a stone comes forth that covers the whole earth without being hewn by anyone; a vessel of fortune, full and needing no pilot; and a treasure that enriches.

Others, in a similar manner, call her a speechless Lamp touching from herself, or an Ark of Noah, wider and more pleasant and more glorious.

That was an ark of animals, but this is an ark of life.

That was an ark of perishable animals, but this is an ark of imperishable life.

That bore Noah, but this bore the maker of Noah.

That was built two or three stories high, but this is the fullness of the whole Trinity, since the Spirit descended, the Father overshadowed, and the Son tabernacled while being carried in her womb.

'For the Holy Spirit will come upon you,' he says, 'and the power of the Most High will overshadow you' (Luke 1:35).

Therefore, even that which is being born shall be called the holy Son of God. Do you see how immense the dignity of the Mother of God is, being a virgin.

For the only-begotten Son of God, the Maker of the world, was carried as an infant from her; he remade Adam, sanctified Eve, abolished the curse, opened the paradise, and secured the seal of the womb.

Both aspects are most appropriate and according to the Word.

For he opened the paradise because he was about to let in a robber and to lead all the heirs of the kingdom into it.

He secured the seal of the womb; for God and the Word, existing as the one becoming flesh, had no need of a door for entrance or for exit.

To you, O Virgin, the prophets distribute their praises, and each of the theophoric prophets speaks of the many mysteries of wonders set upon you.

One calls you the Rod of Jesse, so that the unhurt and unbending nature of your virginity might be signaled.

Another calls you a Burning Bush, which burns but is not consumed, so that the flesh of the Only-begotten and the Virgin, the Mother of God, might be signaled.

For the fire burned and was not consumed, because having given birth without opening the womb, he took the child and, without destroying the womb, brought out the infant and left the belly sealed, making full...

2The Virgin Mary kept her breasts untouched and nursed a child without knowing the child's father. She became a mother without becoming a bride, a remarkable and unprecedented event. A son was being raised, and yet, a father was not found. The field was bearing fruit, but the fruit had no farmer to tend to it. It yielded a harvest, but it did not receive seed. A river was flowing, and its source was closed from everywhere, signifying that Mary had become a mother without suffering the things that mothers normally experience. She gave birth like a woman, but she was not corrupted like a woman. Her pregnancy was according to the law of nature, as she waited for the appointed time of childbirth. However, her conception was contrary to the law of nature. You introduced the king, with the doors closed, but again you led him out. For neither when he was being conceived nor when he was being born did the king of glory open the doors of your womb or loosen the bonds of your virginity. The bridegroom has called you 'a garden enclosed' and 'a fountain sealed', for no sickle of corruption and no harvesting ever touched you. The flower that has blossomed from the rod of Jesse presents itself to humanity in all its purity, cultivated by the pure and unmixed Spirit. You are a fountain sealed, for the river of life that flows from you has filled the world, yet no one has been able to draw from your fountain. David, inspired by you, continues to sing your praises, calling out to the Lord to arise and take his rest (Psalm 132:8). This is not a call for the Lord to separate himself from the Father, but rather to fulfill the plan that was ordained for him before the ages. The Lord must arise to raise the fallen, to straighten the bent, and to take possession of his rightful inheritance, which has been tyrannized by the enemy until now. He must arise to take his rest, which he has determined to take on earth.

3You have set your dwelling in Bethlehem—the cave, the manger, the swaddling bands—yet you do not seek rest in heaven, for you yourself are the very rest of all creation. On earth, for our sake, you endure the sufferings of the flesh: hunger, thirst, and toil. But you are the bread of life for the hungry, and to the thirsty you are the living river of incorruptibility; you labor in the dry places, bearing weariness far from the restless waves of the sea.

Arise, Lord, enter your rest, you and the ark of your holiness. The virgin, the God-bearer, stands plainly revealed: if you are a pearl, she is surely the ark; since you are the sun, she must be called heaven; since you are the unfading flower, she is the plant of incorruptibility, the paradise of immortality.

This is the virgin Isaiah foretold, proclaiming beforehand from God: 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel.' Indeed, 'Behold the virgin'—who is she? She is the woman worthy among women, the virgin set apart, the noble adornment of our nature, the glory of our dust, who has delivered Eve from shame and Adam from peril, who has broken the dragon’s pride.

No desire’s smoke touched her, no worm of sweet pleasure harmed her. 'Behold, the virgin shall conceive in her womb.' And when we ask the prophet whence this comes, he answers: 'I do not speak from myself; this has been guarded by Gabriel.' Though many marvel at the God-bearer’s wonders, many of her signs still lie untold.

But I have believed in the offspring of the ever-virgin, Micah the place in which the wonder was done, David the time; for he himself 'From the womb before the morning star I begot you' placed in the prophecy of the Psalms; Gabriel therefore will say the whence; for he comes down from heaven, he upon this very thing is sent to the virgin, he in the time of the offspring comes along and necessarily is trusted to interpret the substance of the offspring; if indeed also from me you wish to learn, the following of the prophecy come near; and she will bear a son and they will call his name Emmanuel; what then is Emmanuel? 'God with us.' Therefore not God from marriage and corruption is conceived, and from a man and conjugal union to be begotten or incarnated.

4The virgin's question to Gabriel, 'How will this be for me, since I do not know a man?' (Luke 1:34), reveals her astonishment and perplexity at the angel's message.

She is overwhelmed by the wonder of it all and is struggling to comprehend the extraordinary things being said to her.

Her innocence and purity are evident in her words, as she protests that she has not touched the flower of her prime and has kept the temple of her body uncorrupted.

The angel's immediate response, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you,' (Luke 1:35), provides the answer to the virgin's question.

This response highlights the miraculous nature of the conception and the role of the Holy Spirit in it.

The angel's words also emphasize the virgin's purity and her suitability to bear the Only-Begotten Son of God, who wished to take on the form of a servant from her without corruption.

You must not separate the mysteries that follow, for in a cave, you give birth to the creator of all creation, and in a manger, you sit with the one who sits on the cherubim, without a place in the inn, yet you are the mother of the king of those above and below.

For he willingly becomes poor out of you, so that he may also humble the rich, and become a model of endurance and a teacher of gratitude for the poor.

He willingly places himself in the manger, so that the animal-like ones may run to him and find the Logos sitting in the manger, and take from him the rational dignity, so that they may find bread having expected straw, and eat the true bread, the food of life, the dinner of light, the nourishment of joy, and the sweetness of incorruptibility, which gives the knowledge of the kingdom, the pledge of adoption, the lot of the heavens, and the communion of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.