In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Today we are celebrating the Conception of the Mother of God, which is the very beginning of the fulfillment of the Promise. This Promise is important for us to remember because everything happens according to God’s direction. Something special is going to happen. The Mother of God is going to be born, eventually, and she will then give birth to the Son of God. Who is He that we are worshipping? Who is He whom we serve? It is important for us to remember this because we live in such an egocentric time. Human beings have always been like that, but it’s more than ever like that now. Who is He Whom we are serving?

You heard, and remember what the Apostle Paul said to the Colossians this morning: “He is the Head of the Body, which is the Church”, and more than that, too. He is the One from whom all things are. So we call Him the Word of God. (We did not invent this. He told us WHO HE IS.) He spoke everything into being, and He still does speak everything into being because creation is continuing. Everything that exists, exists because of Him. It is that Person, the Word of God, the Only-begotten Son, who is being prepared for by the Conception of the Mother of God, and all the other fulfillments of the Promise that are to come.

He is the Source of everything. He is not just some nice-guy, some philosopher, some person with interesting ideas. He is the Source of everything. In that context, the words of the Lord to His followers, after the healing of the lepers that we hear in the Gospel today, are important. Most of the people who were healed were not grateful at all. Only one person came back to Him, and said thank-you, and he was not even Jewish. This person was a Samaritan, and that sort of person in those days was despised, rejected, and thrown out. That person remembered to come back, and say thank-you.

We, Christians, are getting to be like that Samaritan, and the people of Samaria in those days. In our society Christians have fallen to the bottom, and society is considering us to be naïve, silly, or worse. (A lot of it is really our own fault because of our faithlessness.) It’s important for us to remember Who is the Lord in our lives. It’s important for us to remember in our lives that contrary to what we are taught in school, on television, and so forth, I don’t achieve everything myself; I don’t acquire everything myself. What good that is accomplished, what I have, what I am doing, is there, and it is good, and effective sometimes because the Lord is giving it to me. He helps me to become whatever I am becoming, and do whatever I am doing. However, I have to remember to say thank-you to Him for being willing to give me these things, and help me to do these things.

It really is important for us, because the whole way of Christian living is giving thanks. That’s what we are doing now in this Divine Liturgy. We are giving thanks to the Lord for everything that He is, for everything that He does, for His love for us. We are giving thanks that we have life because of His love. We are giving thanks to Him in this Divine Liturgy for everything.

It’s important in our daily lives when good things are happening to remember to say thank-you to the Lord, remembering WHO HE IS. He is the Word of God who speaks everything into being. The speaking into being is the Word of love, because God is love (cf. 1 John 4:16). If we love Him, as we love our family, our friends, our relatives, we will say thank-you to Him regularly, frequently, every day, for all of the good things He is giving us, enabling us to be stewards of the good things He has given us, caretakers of the good things He has given to us.

The most important thing we have to remember, I think, is this thanksgiving. We have to remember all the time to recognise the good that is coming forth to us from the love of God, that is spoken to us in the love of God. We have to remember to give Him thanks for every little thing that we can see happening during every day (even for the difficulties), and to be therefore able to glorify Him constantly in our lives in thanksgiving: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, now, and ever, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

† Archdiocese of Canada - Orthodox Church in America