Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Congratulations with the feast of the Resurrection of the Lord, as well as the great feast – one of the twelve great feasts – of the Entrance of the Mother of God into the Temple!

On this day we remember how the three-year-old Mary was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem, how she herself left her parents, quickly ran up the stairs to the priest and was led into the Holy of Holies, i. e. into that part of the temple into which usually only the high priest would enter once a year to bring an offering for his sins and the sins of the people. Remembering all of this, we are naturally struck by the sanctity of the Most-Holy Virgin, her readiness to leave everything for the sake of service to God. We can also take notice of the holiness and wisdom of the priest, who recognized in the little girl not a regular child, but a saint. On this day we cannot forget the parents, Joachim and Anna, who were also filled with the Holy Spirit and could leave their only, beloved, and precious daughter to live in the Temple.

The events of this feastday are interesting and important and can become for us an image or example of our own spiritual lives. Let’s take note that the Most-Holy Virgin made her way through the entire Temple and entered the Holy of Holies on her own. The church we are in now, if compared to the Old Testament Temple, is tiny. The Most-Holy Mother of God had to ascend not one flight of stairs, like in our church, nor simply to walk through the nave and walk up a few more steps onto the ambo and then open a door and walk into the altar. Instead, she had to make her way through an enormous temple compound, with many flights of stairs, courtyards, passages, and turns. This was a whole excursion, the more so for a three-year-old child!

Is this not an image of the life of a man, his journey towards God? We are also called to make our way to the Holy of Holies, i. e. to acquire that spiritual condition in which the Lord God is always close, in which it is easy to converse with Him, in which all that is transitory no longer holds our interest. To enter into such a place is not simple. We have to traversе many courtyards, that is, pass through many trials and ascend the ladder of good deeds. There are many passages and turns in which one could become disoriented. Fortunately, the Most-Holy Mother of God has shown us the way forward by her holy life. Therefore, let’s pray to her today that she strengthen us and help us in those moments when we may become weak or lose our way.

priest Alexis