One of the church hymns that is sung for the feast
of the Nativity of Christ contains the following moving
words: “What will we give Thee, O Christ, for having
appeared on earth as a man for our sake? Each of Thy
creations gives Thee thanks: the angels offer their
singing; the heavens give the star; the Magi bring gifts;
the shepherds bear witness to the miracle; the earth
provides the cave; the desert extends the manger. And we –
we give Thee the Virgin Mother.”
In that very year, almost 2,000 years ago, when the Lord
Jesus Christ was actually born on earth, mankind gave Him
the very best and most precious gift it had – the Pure
Virgin Mary, the only One Who could become the Mother of
God and Who could help Him achieve His incarnation. Since
that time, however, within the Church the Lord continues
to be born for us every year, and every year He comes down
to earth for our salvation. And thus every year, in
gratitude, we must offer Him some gift.
What kind of gift, dear brethren, are we able to give each
year to the newborn Babe, our Saviour? The Lord Himself
provides the answer in the words of the prophet, by
saying: “Give me your heart, my son.” And King David
entreats the Lord in one of his psalms: “Create in me a
pure heart, O God.”
So how are we to obtain this gift for the Lord – a pure
heart? A pure heart is acquired by ascending a small kind
of ladder. The first step of this ladder is regular church
attendance. In church we cleanse our hearts of the wicked
influence of the outside world and fill them with the
goodness of the word of God.
The second step is the observance of Christmas Lent. But
this observance should not be solely in terms of food. The
main thing is to keep spiritual lent in terms of the
heart, i.e. restrain ourselves from anger, resentment,
quarrels, irritation and other passions – from everything
that darkens our souls. Through spiritual lent we proceed
even further to purify and enlighten our hearts.
The third step is the sacrament of penitence. As we come
to confession and repent of our sins before God, we
discard this heavy and unnecessary burden, and immediately
lighten our hearts.
And then the last and highest step towards acquiring a
pure heart is to partake of the Royal Mysteries. In the
sacrament of communion we draw into ourselves the Lord God
Himself, the Sacred Fire that consumes all of our inner
uncleanliness and gives that purity of heart, toward which
we are striving. Therefore, it is extremely important in
this period of Christmas Lent to come to church and take
communion.
In society we have the custom, whenever we go to someone’s
birthday party, especially a child’s, to bring nice and
valuable gifts. Right now, dear brethren, we are getting
ready to participate in the birthday party of the Heavenly
Child, the Lord God Himself, the One Who created us to
enjoy heavenly bliss, and because of Whom we are able to
celebrate our own birthdays. Let us prepare for Him and
bring to Him, in the sacred night of His Nativity, the
best and most precious gift that we can give – our pure
hearts. Amen.
Father Rostislav Sheniloff
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