وجبـــــــة روحيـــــ(†)ــــــــــة يوميـــــــــة

[Mary Naeem]

Every time there is mention of the brothers of Christ in the خ‌ew Testament, they are referred tخ؟ as the children of Joseph, and not Mary (Matt. l2:46-47; Mark 3:3l-32; Luke 8:l9-20; Matt. l3:55-56; Mark 6:3; John 6:42; John 2:23; John 7:2l; Acts l:l4; I Corinth. 9:5; Gal. l:l9).

[Mary Naeem]

When the Virgin Mary greeted her cousin Elizabeth, when She visited her, Eliza*beth exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come tخ؟ me?” (Luke l: 42-43). The Virgin Mary replies, prophesying “for behold henceforth all generations will call me blessed” (Luke l: 48).

[Mary Naeem]

Why would God choose Mary tخ؟ become the Mother of His only-begotten Son? The answer lies in Mary’s humility, as She Herself says: “for He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden” (Luke l:48). The extreme humility of the Virgin was the cause of this choice of God, and not wealth, education or beauty. God is not touched by any of these qualities, but only by the virtue of humility. The Virgin Mary and Theotokos for the love of the salvation of mankind, humbled Herself tخ؟ become, and accept tخ؟ be*come the Mother of God.

[Mary Naeem]

The Virgin Mary is the most silent person in the New Testament. Apart from the Annunciation, the Birth of Christ, and the Crucifixion and Resurrection of our Lord, the Theotokos does not appear anywhere else, and this because of Her extreme humility. Only from such a humble person could God, who is the Fountain of Humility, be born.

[Mary Naeem]

The Virgin Mary knew perfectly well whom She gave birth to, but She always remained humble – She never separated Herself from the other women. When the Church was established, She never asked for or received any commands from Her Son, Jesus Christ. She, although above the Apostles, never appeared preaching in the Church either. The Virgin Mary will remain an eternal example for all women to imitate, in other words: a perfect Mother, and a perfect Virgin. St. John Chrysostom says that women who want to become Priests have a Satanic pride and ego, and this because they place themselves above the Mother of God, and it must be remembered that She never became a Priest Herself. The role of women in the Christخ¯an family is to give to the Church their children, so that these children can become Saints..

[Mary Naeem]

Therefore it is very important for mothers to see that it is their responsibility to bring their children to Church and to Sunday School every single Sunday and not to leave them at home to sleep, or find excuses not to go to Church.
We must never forget that one day all of us will appear before the awesome Judge*ment Seat of God. On earth we can easily find many excuses to give the Priest why we don’t come to Church, but what excuse can the Parents find to give to God?
خ¤خ؟ have the children become saints is after all the ultimate purpose of marriage and thusly the Holy Trinity is glخ؟rified.
Because of the prophesy of the Virgin Mary, that She will be blessed unto the ages of ages, She was blessed from the Apostolic era and until today no other woman was blessed more than Her.

[Mary Naeem]

The Orthodox Church خ؟f Christ, continuing the Apostolic Holy Tradition, honours the Theotokos as the Mother of God, and as the Church’s own mother. We call Her Theotokos, which means “the Mother of God”, because She did not give birth to a nor*mal man, but to the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, namely God the Logos. The Orthodox Church does not worship the Theotokos, because we worship only the Holy Trinity. The Theotokos is honoured by us and we love Her more than all the saints and the Angels.

[Mary Naeem]

St. John of Damascus teaches us the following:
“Moreover we proclaim the holy Virgin to be in strict truth, the Mother of God. For in as much as He who was born of her was true God, she who bare the true God incarnated is the true Mother of God. For we hold that God was born of her, not imply*ing that the divinity of the Word received from her the beginning of its being, but meaning that God the Word Himself, Who was begotten of the Father timelessly before the ages, and was with the Father and the Spirit without beginning and through eternity, took up His abode in these last days for the sake of our salvation in the Virgin’s womb, and was without change made flesh and born of her. For the holy Virgin did not bare mere man but True God: and not mere God but God incarnate, Who did not bring down His body from Heaven, nor simply passed through the Virgin as channel, but received from her flesh of like essence to our own and subsisting in Himself. For if the body had come down from Heaven and had not partaken of our nature, what would have been the use of His becoming man? For the purpose of God the Word becoming man was that the very same nature, which had sinned and fallen and become corrupted, should triumph over the decei ving tyrant and so be freed from corruption,just as the divine apostle puts it, For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection خ؟/ the dead. If the first is true the second must also be true.

[Mary Naeem]

”Hence it is with justice and truth that we call the holy Mary the Mother of God. For this name embraces the whole mystery of the dispensation. For if she who bore Him is the Mother of God, assuredly He Who was born of her is God and likewise also man. For how could God, Who was before the ages, have been born of a woman unless He had become man? For the son of man must clearly be man himself. But if He Who was born of a woman is Himself God, manifestly He Who was born of God the Father in accordance with the laws of an essence that is divine and knows no beginning, and He Who was in the last days born of the Virgin in accordance with the laws of an essence that has beginning and is subject to time, that is, an essence which is human, must be one and the same. The name in truth signifies the one subsistence and the two natures and the two generations of our Lord Jesus Christ

[Mary Naeem]

”But we never say that the holy Virgin is the Christخ؟tخ؟kخ؟s, which means Mother of Christ, because it was in order to do away with the title Theotokos, Mother of God, and to bring dishonour on the Mother of God, who alone is in truth worthy of honour above all creation” (St. John of Damascus).

“خٹf any rejects His birth from a virgin, how can he accept His resurrection from the dead?” (St. Irenaeus).