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Σάββατο 17 Δεκεμβρίου 2016
THE NATIVITY OF CHRIST IS AT HAND. BY ST. JOHN OF KRONSTADT
Beloved, the
Feast of the Nativity of Christ is now at hand. Let us take care to meet it in
Christian manner, spiritually. I already know how you intend to meet it: you
will soon be going to the market place, where you will concern
Your selves and
prattle about much, about the manifold pleasures of the table; or you will take
care only to adorn your body with festive clothing. But as for the one thing needful
(Lk 10:42), about how
to sweeten your
soul for the coming feast with spiritual food,
or about how to adorn your soul with
luminous thoughts—in
short, how to meet and spend the feast
worthily—this but
rarely comes to anyone’s mind.
But, beloved, food is always with us and
our clothing is always with us, but the Lord’s feast is not always with us;
therefore, let us concern ourselves not with food and clothing, but rather with
preparing ourselves to meet our Most-Pure Heavenly King. Let us concern
ourselves with meeting the approaching feast worthily and spiritually. We have
long since been chanting Christ is born, which we chant in
order to fathom beforhand the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of
God, that is, why the Son of God descended to earth; why He was incarnate of
the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, becoming man without ceasing to be God.
To what end? To this end God descended to
earth, that He might raise us to Heaven, says the Holy Church. [Akathist to the
Sweetest Jesus, Kontakion 8.) Remember this thought, and drive it into your
hearts: that the Son of God descended to earth in order to save us from sin and
eternal death and to raise us to heaven, that is, to where there is eternal
life and eternal blessedness. If Christ descended to us in order to raise us to
heaven, then we should ascend thereto beforehand in our thoughts and heartfelt
desires, gradually turning our souls away from everything that binds us to the
earth, to this country of exile in which there are so many temptations,
afflictions, sicknesses, sorrows, with all its brevity, where we see only sin,
allurements, and death with all its horrors.
Thus, before the Feast of the Nativity of
our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ arrives, let us adorn our souls with
sobriety and purity of heart, that when Christ appears from heaven we might
worthily meet His birth. Be attentive to yourselves: soon Christ will be on
earth. Then raise your thoughts and hearts from earth to God and let us
joyfully sing of the great mystery of the Nativity of the God-Man. If we meet
this feast with such thoughts, and with such disposition of heart, then we will
meet it worthily, in Christian manner, with benefit to our souls. Amen.
ORTHODOX HERITAGE. VOL14. ISSUE 11-12
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