Last
Thursday, we completed the postfeast of the Theophany, but the Church continues
to meditate on the mystery of the Lord’s Incarnation, His birth in Bethlehem of
Judea, and His manifestation through His baptism in the Jordan and the miracle
wrought at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, all the way up to the feast of
the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple on the fortieth day after Christmas,
2 February. Today, it is necessary for
us to recall all that we have experienced since 15 November, when we began the
Nativity Fast, otherwise known as St. Philip’s Fast. Today, we recognize that we are very similar
to Zacchaeus, whom we heard about in the Gospel today, for we began this
spiritual journey with a desire to see our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, we fasted and prayed for forty
days with hearts full of love, and we ardently asked that we be worthy to
worship our Incarnate God in the “house of bread.” This is what the word “Bethlehem” means. Our
ardent desire was to seek the Bread of Life in that “house of bread,” and
during the days of our fast, our hunger for that spiritual bread became greater
and greater. Finally, we did indeed enter the cave of Bethlehem,
with the coming of the feast of Christmas, and we worshipped the Divine Child
with joy. This true “Bread of Life” we
saw wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger from which animals eat,
for in our sins we had become like animals, and the image of God had become
darkened, just as the Prophet David tells us: “But man, being in honour, did
not understand. He became like the cattle, and is become like unto them. Like
sheep they are laid in Hades; death shall be their shepherd.” When we worshipped
this mystery, we uncovered the treasuries of our hearts before Christ, and
offered to Him gifts, just as the Wise Men from the East offered gifts to the
newborn King, for truly we professed by our worship that He is our King, our
Priest and our Brother, who shares our human nature. We recognize gold, as the symbol of kingly
power, and frankincense as the symbol of priestly intercession, and myrrh as
the symbol of mortal human nature, since it is an embalming agent. In our hearts, these three symbolic gifts
became the emblems of our devotion, for we offered to the Infant Christ the
gold of our loving Divine Service, the incense of our prayers and the myrrh of
our daily sufferings. A heart that is
full with love for God, prayer and thanksgiving for the Cross of Christ is
always the most acceptable sacrifice.
But, our generosity can never outdo the goodness of the Divine Child,
for the gift of Himself is a prize of infinite preciousness and worth. He gave us, as a return for our love,
devotion and faith in Him, an increase in the virtues of Faith, Hope and
Charity.
During the postfeast of Christmas, the
sheer beauty of our generous God enchanted us to follow Him together with a
retinue of martyrs, who shed their blood for His sake, to His circumcision, at
which he received the name Jesus, which means “Saviour.” Then, again, we
followed after Him to the banks of the Jordan. There, He washed our human nature with
Life-Giving Water and gave us the anointing of the Holy Spirit. In all these things, we learned that our
minds are delighted with paradox, although they hate contradiction. With this love for paradox, we worship before
the Incarnate God, and we pray with the words of the Prophet King David:
Blessed is he that hath the God of Jacob for his helper,
whose hope is in the Lord his God; Who made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all
that therein is; Who keepeth truth forever, Who executeth judgment for the
wronged, Who giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the fettered; the Lord
giveth wisdom to the blind; the Lord raiseth up the fallen; the Lord loveth the
righteous; the Lord defends the strangers. He shall take for His Own the
fatherless and widow, but the way of sinners shall He destroy. The Lord shall reign forever; even thy God, O
Sion, from generation to generation.
An infant child, wrapped in swaddling clothes, loosed
those in fetters. He raised up the
fallen, although He could not lift anything (not even His head). He defended the strangers, although He was
not able to defend Himself against the designs of King Herod, but rather St. Joseph had to carry Him away, and flee to Egypt. He will reign as King forever, although
humbly He bowed His head to St. John
the Baptist. He, Whom we refer to as
“The Mighty One,” was exceedingly weak in His human nature, just as we
are. Therefore, we promise never to be
impressed by the powers of this world. Instead, we will stand in awe before the
humility of our Jesus, Who overpowered the Roman Emperors, and kings, and
governments in the whole world.
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