Homily on the Aid of our Lady, The Blessed Virgin Mary

The Rev'd Tommy Thompson

St. Clement's Church, Philadelphia

Sunday Vespers and Benediction

24 September 2017, 4pm

In the Name of the one true God: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is a high honor to be here with you on this day as we celebrate the clemency of our Holy Mother – the Queen of heaven, the Sweet Virgin Birth-giver of God.  

As I reflect on the meaning of the very title, “Our Lady of Clemency,” I’m struck by the persuasive power of our Lady- that her very presence as an intercessor of sinners grants to us a position before God that is truly undeserved.  That’s what clemency is all about, after all, isn’t it.  To be granted clemency means to be granted a lesser punishment that what our actions deserve, or to be pardoned altogether. 

I am reminded of those times as a child, when I’d stay overnight at my grandparent’s house in Nashville, TN.  We were always up to something, us boys.  There was always some new level of mischief for us to unlock, so to speak.  And somehow, some way, my dad would never fail to learn of the trouble we made.  Just as he was ready to let us have it, my sweet grandmother would step in.  As his mother she had a way with my dad that no one else did.  She could get us out of anything.  She was always the comforting, motherly caregiver.  She made us appear more angelic than we really were or than we ever deserved.  “Now, don’t be so hard on them – they’re just boys.  It is okay.  I talked to them.  They know better. They won’t do it again…”  Her pleas that spared our rear ends (literally) produced the desire, at the very least, to strive do better next time.

There is just something about a mother or a grandmother, isn’t there?.  Her entire life is a life of hospitality for her children.  And her children know that their mother is a place of receptivity, warmth, and safety--an open space where they can be and grow without fear.  Children instinctively know that it is from the bosom of their mother that they will be nurtured to life and grow and flourish in the world into which their mother nursed them…

I like the way Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov describes the Mother of our Lord: “The Mother of God stands between heaven and earth.  She intercedes for the world and offers our petitions before the altar of God’s throne.  She is love and compassion, mercy and care, intercessor and defender.  She does not judge, but has compassion for everyone.  Hers is not to be the righteous judge, or the judge of righteousness, but to intercede as a mother.  And at her Son’s awesome tribunal she intercedes on our behalf with the Righteous Judge to ask for forgiveness.” 

Hers is not to be the righteous judge…but to intercede as a mother.  That was the comfort I received from my grandmother who had the power to get us off the hook time and time again, and that is the comfort we receive from our Lady to whom we pray, “O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.” 

The Mother of God and Queen of heaven cares for and loves the world so much because the world is inseparable from her holy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.  This week as I was preparing for tonight’s sermon I was awestricken as I gazed upon the icon of our Lady and our Lord known as the “Sweet Kissing Icon.” It is the most tender icon we could ever read, emphasizing the tender and trusting relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child. 

As you gaze into the icon, you see her love...her protective gaze...nothing will come between her and her Son and his holy mission.  She holds Jesus there...every icon of Mary we have she’s with Jesus.  And if anyone understands the incarnation, it is Mary.  She knows what and who she holds as she embraces Jesus with such tenderness – she holds the world – His passion – in her very bosom. 

Isn’t that the beauty of the mystery of the incarnation? In Jesus Christ, God has taken upon Godself the flesh of the whole of humanity.  Jesus represents us all before the Father.  He is the new humanity.  The Blessed Virgin Mary, does not therefore only hold her son in this icon, but she holds the world for which he was born and for whom he died and rose again.  We all are right there in the arms of the most loving mother and she will not let anything come between her and her Son, the new humanity.

Bulgakov goes on to say, “If only human eyes could perceive the Mother of God’s presence in the world, they would know what transfiguration is mysteriously taking place.  If they could only see her tears, their cruel hearts would be shaken into warmth.  For no heart is so frozen as to remain unmelted in the face of her loving care” 

One thing I’ve learned as I’ve watched my wife become an amazing and loving mother is that there is nothing like the love of a mother.  When a child is hurt, the mother feels her pain in her own soul.  When a child is joyful, the mother’s heart is full.  This is the love our Lady has towards us.  I like the way Alexander Schmemann puts it: “As Mother, she brings into her own heart all our sorrows, all our sufferings, all unbearable pain of our earthly existence” (Schmemman, The Virgin Mary, 36). 

May our eyes of faith be opened that we may see our Lady for all she is.  She pleads for our pardon – for clemency.  She will not let anything stand between her and her Son.  May we not forget that because she holds her Son in her bosom, she holds us in her bosom - for whole world is inseparable from her Son, we are his mission – his passion, therefore we are her mission and passion.  And may such a vision of our Lady of Clemency’s loving care for us engender faithfulness among us so that we might make our mother proud and her heart swell with joy! 

O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary.   Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God – That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ. 

In the Name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  Amen.