👉🏾👉🏾👉🏾The Glory of #Sunday #Praise to the #Virgin #Mary
Beloved in Christ, holy children of the Apostolic faith,
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead on the first day of the week, sanctifying Sunday as the crown of days. On this most radiant day, we lift up our voices not only to Him who conquered death, but also to His most pure Mother the holy Theotokos, the living ark, the temple not made with hands, the treasury of salvation.
For as the sun rules the day and the moon the night, so the Lord reigns over all creation, and His Mother stands nearest to Him in glory interceding without ceasing for the faithful.
1. Sunday—The Greatest Day, MaryThe Greatest Praise
On this day, the Virgin herself is said to have spoken: “This day is the greatest of all days, and the praise of this day is the greatest of all praises.”
Why? Because Sunday is the day of Resurrection, the day when the gates of death were shattered, the day when the Gospel outshone the Law. And the Virgin is praised in the adornments of the temple like the golden bowls and Aaron’s rod (Exodus 25–30) symbols of her purity, her divine calling, and the mystery she bore in her womb.
You, O Virgin, are separated from women not by pride, but by holiness. You are the Mother of the Trinity in the flesh. You are depicted by the cherubim and praised by the priests. As the stone tablets carried the Law written by the finger of God (Ex. 32:15–19), so your womb bore the Word Himself not in letters of stone, but in the fullness of flesh by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit.
The prophets foresaw this: Jacob likened your womb to a tablet inscribed by God Himself, and Saint Paul declared that through your Son’s blood, “we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7).
2. Mary—The Ark, the Sanctuary, and the Incarnation
You are the Ark of the Covenant wood covered with gold (Ex. 25:9–20) symbolizing your incorruptible humanity clothed in divine glory. In you, God united divinity and humanity without confusion, becoming man for our salvation. As Solomon built a sanctuary, so God made your womb His dwelling place.
You are the sanctuary shielded by the cherubim. You are the place where the Word took flesh body, soul, and spirit offering Himself as atonement for the sins of the world.
3. Mary—Bearer of the Bread of Life
You are the golden jar that held the manna (Ex. 16:33–34). But unlike the manna that fed Israel in the wilderness and left them to die (Jn. 6:49), you bore the Bread that gives eternal life.
Saint Yared, the harp of Ethiopia, sang of you as the golden vessel in which the Bread of Life was placed the Bread who came down from heaven to feed all who believe. Abba George calls you Bethlehem, the house of the Bread of Heaven, in whom the divinity took on flesh.
4. Mary—The Golden Lampstand
You are the lampstand (Ex. 25:31–40) bearing the Light of the World. This Light, Christ your Son, drives away the darkness of ignorance and illumines the hearts of men with the Gospel. Saint Yared calls you “a golden lampstand, not made by hands, whose light drives away the darkness of the world.”
5. Mary—The Golden Censer
You are the golden censer (Ex. 30:1–8), carrying the fire of divine understanding Christ Himself who, by offering Himself on the Cross, became the fragrant sacrifice pleasing to the Father (Eph. 5:2).
6. Mary—The Rod that Blossomed
You are Aaron’s rod (Num. 17:1–10) which budded without being planted or watered, bearing fruit by divine power. So you, O Virgin, conceived without seed, by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit (Isa. 7:14, Lk. 1:35). The saints liken your years in the temple to the rod’s hidden growth, until the fullness of time when you brought forth the Savior.
Continues 👇🏾