The message by Patriarch Elijah on the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God
(celebrated in Ukraine on Oct. 14)
In relation to this feast, Jesus says in the Gospel: “Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” (Lk 11:28) The first thing is to hear the word of God and the second thing is to keep it. How many obstacles there are in us and around us which prevent us from hearing the word of God, thinking about it and keeping it so that it may become incarnate in us. This word should become incarnate in us just like in the Blessed Virgin – in her the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And how did it happen? She was prepared. She lived by faith, wholly devoted to God. When the angel came to her, she said: “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” These were not mere words, this was her life. And what did it involve? In that situation she risked her life. Any woman in Israel who was pregnant without being married was stoned to death. However, Mary knew Isaiah’s prophecy: “The virgin shall conceive and bear a Son.” She asked: “How can this be?” The angel said to her: “The Holy Spirit will do it.”
The Spirit of God is in us too. It is a mystery which is also connected with the resurrection: “The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you.” So we should live a new life, the life of Christ, by nailing to the cross our will, our feelings, our desires, and by striving to do the will of God. To do the will of God means to keep His word. And then we are blessed because God works through us.
The fight against sin is going on both in us and in the world. We cannot overcome by physical strength but only by sharing our suffering with Jesus. God’s Word calls us: “Deny yourself” – deny yourself and unite yourself to Jesus, to His cross and His death. In the hour of death, Jesus says to us from the cross: “Behold, your Mother.” These were the most important words for the disciple, and he received her into his heart. She is the Protecting Veil of grace from God for us. Through her God’s grace comes to us. Through the first woman the veil of sin covered mankind. We all are under the veil which covers the nations – it is original sin which keeps us in deceit, so that we are paralyzed in doing good, as we read in the Epistle to the Romans: “I love good but I do evil which I hate.” It is the work of sin which is in us. It blinds human reason so that man opens the door to the devil. The spirit of lies and death disguises itself by various philosophies, psychologies, ideologies… The fruit is cynicism, perversion and physical death. This is caused by the veil of sin through Eve. Through Mary we are given the veil of grace and protection against sin and against the forces of darkness.
The keeping of the law and word of God, its fulfilment, consists in a living faith which is put into practice. This is connected with self-denial. Whenever we are to do the word of God, we have to overcome psychological barriers, aversion, laziness, logical or emotional barriers… Therefore we need to stop at every stage and ask God for strength and wisdom time and again.
Now is the time of fight. The devil attacks us by a variety of thoughts or feelings, taking advantage of our wounded nature, our emancipation from God… How often we believe in a most absurd lie. We are tormented by intrusive thoughts, and the worst thing is that we nourish them and are unable to discern the spirit of cunning deceit behind them. So whenever we are attacked by a thought from the evil one, the first thing to do is to stop and realize God’s presence – that God sees me. Then we need to give Him the concrete problem. Sometimes it is a question of one second and the problem is solved immediately. The thought by which the devil attacked us suddenly disappears. But sometimes it takes time. We have to fight, strive to break through darkness and enter into the light, and suddenly it stops. God then rewards our striving and gives us much more light. To teach us perseverance, God sends on us various trials and at the same time He has given us Mother to protect us in the fight against the shots of the enemy. On the feast of the Protection of the Mother of God, we should realize how much we need to fly to her protection. Jesus gave her to us at the moment when He was dying on the cross. She is the supreme model of the following of Jesus. In her the Word became flesh. Each of us should keep the word of God and do His will like she did.
How great is the pressure in the world nowadays! It comes through the new thought. The hierarchy of values changes rapidly. What used to be normal, all sound principles are being eliminated. People living in villages or towns in the past had their vices but still they had sound thinking. Today we are witnesses to global satanization. Whole armies and clouds of demons confuse people’s minds. In this darkness, we need clear light. We need a protecting veil to cover us from darkness. We need to be where the Light is. Jesus is the Light. Where the Blessed Virgin is, Jesus is there too. How needful it is to have recourse to her! Whenever we feel weak, upset by our wretchedness and lack the courage to come directly to Jesus, let us have recourse to her as our Mother. Let us ask her for protection especially on this feast. The spiritual fight is going on not only for each of us but for all Ukraine. Therefore, we also ask the Mother of God in this spiritual fight to shelter our whole nation under her protection. The Ukrainian nation was the first to be consecrated to the Mother of God, sheltered under her protection. That is why we also pray that God may find people in our nation through whom His almighty power can work. Saint Vladimir was far from God at first, but God found him. God has His plans. How will He fulfil them? We do not know; nevertheless, let us do our best to prepare the way for Him. Jesus lived on earth 2000 years ago, but even today He wants to find people who keep the word of God, live according to it, live by faith like the Blessed Virgin. We must carry Jesus into this world even if the world will crucify Him and us together with Him. We have to be prepared for it.
May the Mother of God obtain for all of us the grace to follow her way of obedience and to learn to do the word of God. We place ourselves, our whole Church and nation under her protection, so that we may remain faithful to Jesus and never betray Him. It is not enough to receive Jesus; we need to follow Him. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. We must draw strength from prayer. In prayer, we should come to Jesus with all our troubles and offer to Him our everyday sufferings. Life is so short! We have to forsake the vanities of the world which influence our thoughts. How great is the need for people who are ready to fight, who give themselves wholly to Jesus, who keep the fire of pure love for Him and do not let it be quenched by clever tricks of the spirit of lies which dominates the world. We do not want the souls to go to hell. Our mission is to receive Jesus and to adhere to Him and His Word.
Sound Christianity requires conditions and the Spirit – the Spirit of God to guide us. In the mist of this world, the Mother of God is like the pillar of fire leading the Israelites in the wilderness and protecting them. It was a pillar of light for some and a pillar of darkness for others. We are sheltered under her protection. The fight is going on for all Ukraine, and this fight is going on in the heart of every one of us too. Let us realize again today that God can use us in so far as we give ourselves again and again into His hands, in so far as we want to seek and do His will even in small things: “Lord, though I am like a blind and deaf man, I want to go in the direction which You will show me, I want to seek and do Your will. Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it. Lord, grant to us that through the intercession of the Mother of God we may keep the word of God like her. Your Mother kept the word of God in her heart. She stood by the cross and then was raised to life together with You. Together with the apostles, she experienced the descent of the Holy Spirit and then she was assumed body and soul into heaven. She is our Mother, she protects us, and into her hands we put ourselves, all our problems as well as spiritual resurrection of the Church and Ukraine.”
“O Mother of God, you are full of grace; we ask you for the light, so that we may not only hear the word of God but also that it may become incarnate in us and cause spiritual resurrection.”
Download: The message by Patriarch Elijah on the feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God
