Akathist Saturday; our Venerable Fathers Martyred by the Saracens at the Monastery of St. Sabbas (580-97)
Great Fast Day 34
Hebrews 9:24-28; Hebrews 9:1-7; Mark 8:27-31; Luke 10:38-42; 11:27-28
Read Hebrews 9:24-28
Matter matters. If there is a succinct and pithy way of summing up our Christian belief in the Incarnation, this is probably it. God created the world and all things in it. He created us human beings as material creatures with a body, but He also endowed us with a rational intellect – the mind – and gave us a soul. We are tripartite beings: body, mind, and soul. In order to draw us into a closer relationship with Himself, especially through worship, God has always made use of material things. In today’s epistle, the Holy Apostle reminds his Jewish readers of the form of worship under the Old Covenant. That worship, ordained by God and described in minute detail in the latter half of Exodus, made use of created matter in the fixtures of worship (lampstand, altar, tent, golden urn, etc.) and also in establishing a human priesthood to preside at worship. As Catholics, we have inherited this liturgical worship. Through it God draws us to Himself; He reveals Himself to us.
The fullness of this revelation was in God’s most perfect use of matter: taking on our human flesh and participating in our human life through the womb of the Most Holy Theotokos. As we sing the Akathist Hymn today and as we prepare for the great feast of the Incarnation, the Annunciation, this coming week we are called to prayerfully meditate on this great mystery. Christ, the Word, through whom all things were created is conceived in the womb of the Mother of God. Christ the High Priest through whom and in whom the most perfect worship is offered takes on our human flesh. The womb of the Mother of God is the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, the budding rod of Aaron. How wonderful this mystery is! How beautiful it is to contemplate! Let us rejoice in God’s coming as a man and let us ponder this as we continue our Lenten journey all the way to the cross and the empty tomb.