All Generations Will Call Me Blessed: Sermons on the Mother of God

by St Philaret of Moscow

Let us now compare our typical inner confusion to the blameless confusion of the most blameless Virgin. Mary is confused by a word of praise, even though there is no word of praise capable of worthily extolling her, for no praise could be too great for her. But is this how we encounter praise when it enters our ears? Do we think that though the words seem to be coming from an angel, it might still be a false word of temptation? Are we ashamed of undeserved praise, do we abhor passionate praise, do we fear even justified praise, lest it put to sleep our virtue or taint it with impurity? Does not our careless heart swallow praise whole like a sweet morsel, though it might be a sweetened poison? Does not our insatiable self-love reach shameless levels when begging for praise or when simply ascribing it to ourselves? Without any shame, some say of themselves: I am a good Christian; I am a true son of the Church. And they remain calm when speaking these words! But I must admit that I would prefer if they had a bit of dubious self-doubt instead of excessively careless and overconfident calm that might end with a much more terrible confusion down the line. Mary is confused by a word that clashes with her humility. But are we not, on the contrary, often distressed by words that clash with our pride? Not only words that are actually hurtful or actions that are truly insulting cause us to abandon our patience, but even trivial inconveniences, inadvertent words, or justified and temp...