👉🏽👉🏽👉🏽A Homily on the Most Pure and #Thornless #Flower: Tsege Reda – The Holy #Mother of #God
Brethren, incline thine ears and widen thine hearts, that we may contemplate the mystery of the most blessed and ever-virgin Mary, whom the heavenly hosts proclaim as the Thornless Flower, the Tsege Reda, the most chaste Mother of our Lord and God, Jesus Christ. Let not thy lips speak idly of her, nor thy minds approach her lightly, for she is not merely the vessel, but the very tabernacle whom the Most High sanctified before the foundations of the world were laid.
She is the True and Faithful Flower of Life
As a flower springs forth from the earth, with root, stem, and branch, so too does our Lady reveal herself to be the complete and perfect plant of divine life. Science teaches that a plant, to be counted true, must have:
A true root to anchor and nourish.
A true stem to uphold and sustain.
A true branch to extend and bear fruit.
Those entities without these elements grasses, mushrooms, weeds though green, are not true plants, for they neither prepare their food nor sustain life. Likewise, so many souls boast of virtue, but they lack the true spiritual root, the stem of humility, and the branches of obedience. They are as hollow as mushrooms, appearing alive, yet with no power to give life.
But the Virgin Mary, what shall we liken her to? is the True Plant of Life.
Her roots were drawn from the holy mountains (Psalm 86:1), righteous forebears such as Joachim and Anna, established in holiness.
Her stem was foretold by the prophet Isaiah: "A rod shall come forth from the root of Jesse" (Isaiah 11:1).
Her branch bore fruit not of man, but of the Holy Spirit, for the Christ Himself says: “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5).
In her is found no withering, no corruption, no flaw, for she bore the very Bread of Life (John 6:56), the Drink of Immortality.
A Rebuke to the Proud and Foolish
There are those who, consumed by their pride, dare to speak thus: "Had I lived in her time, I too would have been worthy to give birth to Christ." Such women, deceived by demons, speak with lips that drip folly. Even in Israel, some awaited the Messiah vainly, presuming their own wombs to be the throne of God, yet their lives did not match their tongues. Nay, even their daily bread they did not procure in righteousness.
But our Lady, when she beheld the prophecy concerning her, did not puff herself up. She did not say, “I am worthy”, but humbly cried, “Would that I might draw water and serve as her maidservant!” Such is the humility that shook heaven and summoned the Archangel Gabriel. When the divine announcement reached her ears, she did not recoil in disbelief, but responded, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord.” O humility! O obedience! O majesty clothed in meekness!
She did not crown herself Theotokos, but was so called by the voice of God through Gabriel and Elizabeth, and by the generations that bless her name.
She is the Flower Before Time, the Joy of the Ages
Before sun and moon measured the hours, before stars adorned the heavens, the Virgin Flower was known in the mind of God. She was proclaimed by prophets, pondered by apostles, and glorified by the righteous of old. She is the Flower that never withers, whose presence gives:
Rest to the eyes of the weary,
Hope to the heart of the despairing,
Fragrance to the soul of the faithful.
The wise have cried, “You are a beautiful flower, whose fragrance springs from the root of Jesse.” (Isaiah 11:1; Wudasie Mariam)
What flower gives life to the dying? What flower brings salvation to the condemned? Only this One.
She is the Healing Flower, the Mother of Salvation
As earthly flowers draw bees and yield honey, so did the Virgin draw the Logos into her womb, making sweet the bitter Law and fulfilling it in the Gospel. Honey heals so too does Christ, and so too does the Gospel. In Mary was formed the Honeycomb of Heaven.
She is called the Mother of Salvation, for she bore the Savior.
Continues 👇🏽