Festival of St. Mary, Theotokos
Posted on August 15, 2024 by under
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:14-24 (NKJV)
5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. 15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Test all things; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.
23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.
Devotion
“Warn those who are unruly,” he says. Now, Jesus’ mother, Mary, is a saint of God’s Church and worthy of all due honor. Yet, this is not because of anything she has done by her own power, but because God (out of pure grace) preserved her in the true faith and chose her to be the mother of the Son of God. If any saint is worthy of honor, Saint Mary is certainly worthy, because of the calling to which God called her, and to which she was faithful. However, there exist unruly men who abuse her name and her reputation, inventing myths about her and demanding that Christians believe them as doctrine. Such men are to be warned and, if they will not repent, cast out.
We give thanks to God for Mary, who truly carried God (in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ) in her womb. Through her, the eternal Son of God became a man so that He might redeem all men in His body. We honor Saint Mary not because of what she has done, but because of what God did through her. Through her He became our incarnate Redeemer, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ—Son of God and Son of Mary.
Collect: Almighty God, Who didst show favor to the Blessed Virgin Mary, granting unto her to be the mother of Thine Only-begotten Son, we beseech Thee that Thou wouldst grant humility and faithfulness unto Thy Church to glorify Thee in the fulfillment of our labors, that we who have been saved by grace through faith in Thy Son might remain steadfast unto the end; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Almighty and Everlasting God, Who art always more ready to hear than we to pray, and art wont to give more than either we desire or deserve: Pour down upon us the abundance of Thy mercy, forgiving us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
