December 1, 2022

Greetings in the name of the Lord!

I pray that the Nativity Fast is going well for everyone. As we go through this Fast in the month of December, let us not get so caught up in the trappings of the season that we forget why we are fasting, and that is in anticipation and preparation of the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ. He is the Word which became flesh; that is, the Son of God, Who is co-eternal with God the Father and with the Holy Spirit, He became human, having become incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. And we recite and remember this every time we say the Creed in our personal prayers and in the Divine Liturgy. This is such a wondrous, awesome and saving mystery one cannot help but be humbled that our Good God would come to earth to show us the path to the kingdom! Christ, Who had no beginning, took on a beginning according to humanity; the One without flesh assumed flesh. God became man without ceasing to be God. The Unapproachable One became approachable to all of us, in the form of a humble servant. Why, and for what reason, does our Creator, lower Himself to come to earth and help His transgressing creatures, who, because of their own actions and will, have fallen away from God, its Creator? We can see that God our creator did not leave us to perish in our own fallenness, He did not ignore that which He created. He instead sent His Son to show us the path to eternal salvation. The Archangel Gabriel appears to Mary to let her know that she had found favor with God and that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and that the Eternal God is born as a little Child. It is sometimes difficult to understand the magnitude of what God has done for us. Giving us the way out of this sinful world. We are able these days to see all the sinful things that are taking place around the world, but because our Lord became flesh, we have the consolation that those who keep His commandments will have everlasting peace. Christ says in John’s Gospel “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Let us take some time to be at peace with everyone, to forgive those who have hurt or offended us. So that as we go through the rest of the fast we can take time to contemplate on all that God has done for mankind and for us personally, and then we can joyfully welcome the Christ-Child into the world. May we all have a blessed fast.