LET US COMMEND OURSELVES AND ONE ANOTHER

LET US COMMEND OURSELVES AND ONE ANOTHER

(Monday, October 14)

“Commemorating our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints, let us commend (παραθώμεθα, предадим) ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God.” (Great Litany, Byzantine Liturgy)

Today, when those of us on the Older Calendar celebrate the feast of the Protection of the Theotokos, let me “commend” or hand myself and my others, over to Christ, especially if I am feeling frustrated by not being able to control “us.” This feast, on which we celebrate the Mother of God’s appearance, together with angels and saints, above a crowd of people gathered at the Blachernae church in Constantinople, reminds me that we all have a lot of invisible backup or a “cover” for our own little prayers. In that appearance, the Theotokos “covered” all the people, by extending over them her veil, symbolizing to us how she continuously and powerfully supports us in our prayers, together with all the angels and saints.

Today let me let go and let God, as they say, and as did the Theotokos with all the saints. God can handle all our complexities and trials, and guide us through them, as He guided the Theotokos and all the saints throughout all their very-different lives, throughout the centuries.  “Commemorating our most holy, pure, blessed, and glorious Lady, the Theotokos and ever-virgin Mary, with all the saints,” on this feast of the Protection, “let us commend ourselves and one another and our whole life to Christ our God!”