On Mothers’ Day we turn to the Church as our mother. Like our earthly mothers, the Church knows what is good for us when we are sick. We may not like cure, but just like our mothers’ cure-all, the Church offers us the sacraments and the life of the Church to heal us. We should learn to trust the Church like we trust our mothers, and we will be made well. A life of prayer, fasting, caring for the poor and the sacraments of the Church, are all for our healing.
My brothers and sisters, on this Mother’s Day I thought it was very appropriate that it coincides this year with the Sunday of the Paralytic. Because I remember when I was young, even not so young, my mother would look at me and she knew I was sick before I did. She would look at me and something’s wrong. And of course, being the know-it-all son that I was, it always annoyed me that she knew. But she always knew, and if I wanted to get better, I had to listen to my mother. Now, my mother is watching from above, but I will confess to you today that I think my mother’s cure for everything was Faskomilo, and I hated Faskomilo. Mountain tea. And she wouldn’t even strain it for me, I’d have to drink it with the stems and everything, and spit out the stems… I’m kidding, no, she didn’t do that to me. But she chased me around with the tea, “It’s going to make you feel better.”
If you don’t believe me, ask Presvytera because she now chases me with the Faskomilo, but I still hate it. You see, we don’t always like the things that make us better, we don’t always like the medicine that is given to us. And this morning, my brothers and sisters, in this beautiful coincidence between Mother’s Day and the healing of the paralytic, I invite you to turn your attention to the church as our mother, because the church loves us like a mother. And like a mother, the church can look at us and say, something’s not exactly right with you today. Maybe you should go to confession. Maybe you should say some prayers. Maybe you should go to the church, light a candle, and sit with God. Something’s not right. The church, as our mother, loves us and wants us to be healed. And like the medicine, we don’t always like what the church has to tell us.
But I’m here to tell you, my brothers and sisters, that the medicine of the church will 100% of the time heal us in our soul. It may not heal us in our body, but our bodies are temporary. Our bodies will return to the earth, but our soul never dies. And if we want to be made well, we must listen to our mother, the church. And today, my brothers and sisters, I want us to be reminded that when we trust the church, even if it’s a little bitter going down… She didn’t even add honey to the Faskomilo all the time. I know, right? Even when it’s a little bitter going down, we have to trust that it’s good for us, because what we’re looking to heal isn’t our bodies, it is our soul. Our bodies will come and go.
Now, in the miracle today, the paralytic was healed, but he’s the one reminding us of the church, he says to Christ, Christ says, “Do you want to be healed?” And he says to Christ, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the water, I’m all alone.” My brothers and sisters, we are not alone. Not only do we have each other, but we have the church, and the saints, and Christ, and the Panagia, our greatest mother of all. And all of them are watching us, and all of them are hoping that we will embrace the medicine of the church. A life of prayer, a life of fasting, a life of taking care of the poor. The sacraments of the church, not just to come for holy communion at Pascha. The holy Apostles teach us to be ready for holy communion every Sunday. Not just to come for holy unction on Wednesday of Holy Week, but every time the church offers the sacrament. To come for holy confession, to completely participate in the medicine of the church because it will soothe our soul.
And then we can look, and we can find God, and we can be comforted in praising him, and glorifying him, even if the world turns against him as it did in the gospel. But we don’t have to follow the world. As I wrote to you in the bulletin today, the world is trying to tell us that we are not sick, the world is trying to tell us that we’re just fine the way we are. My brothers and sisters, we are not just fine, our souls are crying out for God, and we have to give our souls the soothing voice of God in our prayers and in the life of the church. So, as we are all celebrating our mothers and willing to honor them, today, I’m inviting us to honor our mother, the church, and to begin listening to the preparations, and listen to the advice the church gives us because we depend upon her love.
We will not always have our earthly mothers, but we will always have the church looking over us, and protecting us, and guiding us. Happy Mother’s Day to all of our mothers and our yiayias and our theias, and may the memory of our mothers who have gone before, may their memory be eternal, and may we all honor the love of God in our mothers, in the Panagia, and most of all in the life of the church. Christos Anesti. Christ is risen.
