Christ is Born 2022

Christo Aniceto. For unto us a child is born,

unto us a son is given, and the government shall

be upon his shoulders. His name will be called

Angel of Great Counsel. His peace shall have

no end. Every liturgy we begin You don't hear

it, mostly. Sometimes there's too much commotion

going on, people coming in. You don't hear it.

I say, Glory to God in the highest, on earth

peace, good will toward men. Two times. O Lord,

open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy

praise. And then we begin the liturgy. We say

that before we exclaim, Blessed is the kingdom.

And those are the words that the shepherds heard

from the angels in Bethlehem. Words never heard

on earth before. Incredible. Literally unimaginable.

Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men. A child

bringing this. We start every matin service with

that too. Glory to God in the highest. Peace

and goodwill toward men. And we end matin service

with that too. You hear that verse constantly.

Because we are to offer glory to God all the

time. Remember, God came to us as a child. We

rightly lament that the incarnation, since the

incarnation, since the resurrection, the ascension,

Pentecost, Over 2 ,000 years, peace on earth

is not something we've seen yet. Violence, war,

oppression on and on, terrible, frightening things,

spiritually sick things. But the peace in the

gospel that is preached is not the kind of peace

that is simply friendship between people or between

countries or between cities or between rulers.

It's not that kind of peace. I wonder, do we

want a savior to come and repair this earthly

home for us? Herod was afraid of Jesus, the newborn

king, because he thought he would take away his

power. Babies don't come with power. Do they?

They come with needs. We are also not to abandon

this world either. But this is not the kind of

kingdom that the Lord brought. The ancient Pharisees

exactly wanted Jesus to establish that kind of

worldly kingdom, a kingdom of coercion and power.

But God came as a child. The Christmas gift of

peace on earth, goodwill, is not just this friendship,

lack of war. The peace of the gospel is within,

isn't it? It's the state of peace that rules

in the soul of the faithful person, the person

who has friendship and communion with God. It's

a peace between God and man. That God makes.

It's not between us that we make. The Son of

God brought peace to this world. And if this

peace is not in us, it does us no good to demand

that others be good. To condemn everyone else.

Because we haven't yet the kingdom of God in

our heart. The late and ever memorable Metropolitan

Theodosius wrote once, he said, one of the greatest

stumbling blocks to the acquisition of spiritual

peace and tranquility is the amount of time,

inappropriately, that we spend trying to regulate

the lives of other people. Rather than becoming

anxious about all we feel others ought to do,

ought not to be doing, how the world ought to

run, we must calmly And honestly, he said, see

what it is that we are called and able to do

and concentrate on that. Learn the spirit of

peace. Peace I leave with you, Jesus said. My

peace I give to you. Different kind of peace,

not the worldly kind of peace, he said. Not as

the world gives do I give you that peace. The

question is, brothers and sisters, how do we

acquire that? Jesus came as a child, then it's

easy. It's easy. Anyone who has had a baby, has

taken care of a baby, or remembers taking care

of a child, how is your life regulated? By that

child, day in, day out, and mostly at night,

when you need some sleep. Attention. Attention

constantly. You see, in a way, but without the

coercion, without the demanding needs of the

child, our Lord, who has been born in our hearts,

and you heard St. Paul say, you are all sons.

He's not trying to be just, he's not talking

to the men in Galatia. He means those, the sons

who are legal, those who are the ones legally,

inheriting all the wealth of the Father. You

are all sons by baptism, and you cry out in your

heart, Abba, Father. When we give our attention

to the child who has been planted in our heart,

the kingdom, Bethlehem in the soul, as if we

had a child, but that wasn't demanding of us,

that didn't ask us of anything. But will give

us that peace if we bring our attention to that.

Just think, brothers and sisters, what joy, what

peace you will be to the world. You will truly

be Christophers, the ones who bear Christ. And

nothing will take that peace away. Let me end

these miscellaneous thoughts. with some words

of the Holy Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow,

from a homily he gave in 1823. We must try to

be not merely attentive listeners of the word

of Christ, but also doers of the works of salvation.

Emulate the shepherds. who, having heard the

voice of the angel, were not content with mere

wonder, but came with haste and found Mary and

Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Emulate

the Virgin Mary herself, who kept all these things

and pondered them in her heart. Place the word

of the child Jesus in your heart, and just as

an expectant woman pregnant with child walks

and acts, carefully so as not to endanger the

child in her womb. So also you must walk and

act in this world with care and about what you

touch and come into contact with so that nothing

can cast out from your hearts the sweet memory

and the love and the peace from above that comes

from the child Jesus. Do not lose the spirit

of salvation that has come to be born in your

soul which he will nurture In all of you by his

grace. He will mother you. Entering through faith

into your hearts. And abiding there forever.

Amen. Christ is born.