Behold, the Handmaid of the Lord: On Accepting Spiritual Invitations
Sometimes God invites us to a spiritual banquet to bestow upon us abundant spiritual riches. Not because we deserve it, but because He is good, loves us, and wills for us to enjoy His own goodness.
We don’t know how many such invitations we will receive in our lifetime. All we know is that they are precious beyond imagining, and we are among the most blessed people in human history to receive them. We are True Orthodox Christians, baptised in Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit, a people set apart to spend eternity in the love of our man-loving Creator.
Tomorrow, will we have the same health that we have today? The same finances? The same freedom to travel? We have especially learned over the last several years that these things are fleeting.
Our last RTOC Western European Diocese Pilgrimage was in 2022. There are people who chose to be pilgrims that year who physically can’t be pilgrims now because of changes to their health, finances, or ability to travel. These brave and pious souls seized their opportunity, and the grace they received from that blessed pilgrimage with their family in Christ sustains them through these tough years and, God-willing, will help propel them into a blessed eternity with the Lord.
Likewise, there are people who could have gone on previous pilgrimages but put off the invitation ‘until next time,’ expecting to ‘go at some point in the future, when it will be more convenient.’ Unfortunately, for some of these people, that ‘more convenient time’ hasn’t come, and for some, it never will. We never know when God is going to take away our health, our finances, our freedom, and ultimately our souls.
When God opens a door for us, with His help, we have to overcome the objections of our passions. Like the Ever-Virgin Mary who, when the Holy Archangel Gabriel called Her to become the Theotokos, cried out, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord! Be it unto me according to thy word.”
Our passion for money might object. “You can’t afford this right now.” “What about your savings?” “What about your financial plans?” But as True Orthodox Christians, we know we don’t have to be tempted by financial worries. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:33). This is a promise from God Himself. Thanks to the teachings of the Holy Fathers, we know that God wants, most of all, for us to make decisions that bring the most benefit to our souls. We can be confident that spending temporal goods on eternal goods secures our material future, rather than threatening it. As the Psalmist says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous man forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” (Psalm 36:25)
Second, our passion for laziness objects. “That’s a lot of effort, and you can’t be bothered.” Let’s compare our times with the times of pilgrims past. For centuries, our forefathers from the lands of Rus’, the mountains of Greece, the heart of Serbia, and other Orthodox lands, burning with the love of Christ, undertook this same journey. They did not book flights; they walked across continents or boarded rickety ships. They did not check into comfortable hotels; they slept under the stars. They didn’t travel with ATM cards; some had nothing but a few loose coins in their pockets. They walked hundreds of miles from shrine to shrine in the Holy Land, through desert places, bearing the heat of the day. They faced bandits, disease, and political turmoil with no guarantee they would even be allowed to enter the Holy Land to venerate the sacred sites.
And so great is our God’s love that He rewarded them not only for their arrival and veneration at the holiest shrines on earth, but for their very intention of going. He saw their hearts, honored their podvig, and blessed them for simply setting out on the path. And what of us? To be a pilgrim in 2026 means walking a little between car rides, airports, and comfortable buses, and retiring to a secure hotel room each night after eating our fill. Yes, to be a pilgrim we will have to work a little, and glory to God for that, because nothing good comes without toil—despite how little sweat God requires of us in these times.
We exhort you, faithful True Orthodox Christians: When God invites you to one of His feasts, respond as our Protectress, the Most Holy Theotokos did, and cry, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord! May it be to me according to thy word.” Not only when invited to the spiritual banquet of a holy pilgrimage, but in all good things in this fleeting time on earth: Go to church when you can, seek the Mysteries of the Church, take advantage of opportunities for divine fellowship. You don’t know when your next invitation will come, or if it will come.
When we are truly called by God to something, it’s never a question of whether we can, but simply of whether we will. We exhort all True Orthodox faithful who can join us in the Holy Land in 2026 to answer this call and cry, “Behold, the servant of the Lord!” So that in the Holy Land together, under the omophorion of our holy archpastor, in sacred fellowship, we may cry together, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men!”
