‘The Feast of the Nativity of the Lord reveals God’s endless love for humans, which is above all understanding,’ the Patriarch of Romania said during the Christmas Divine Liturgy celebrated on Tuesday, December 25, at the Patriarchal Cathedral in Bucharest.
Concelebrants for the Divine Liturgy included His Grace Bishop Qais of Erzurum (Antioch Patriarchate), the Patriarch’s auxiliary bishops Varlaam of Ploiesti and Ieronim of Sinaia, as well as the Assistant Bishop to the Archdiocese of Bucharest, Timotei of Prahova.
Offering his reflections on the supernatural Incarnation of the Son of God, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel said that the Divine Logos from love of humans and their salvation became that what He loved, a Man.
‘The eternal One becomes Man in time, the Uncircumscribed becomes circumscribed in the Virgin’s womb, the Indescribable becomes describable, the Inaccessible becomes accessible and dwells among men,’ he said.
The Patriarch pointed to the church hymns chanted during Christmas time, noting that they show that ‘the earth offers the cave, heaven offers the star, the Magi offer gifts, and we humans offer the Virgin who gives birth to the Child Jesus.’
The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ is ‘a blessing for humans, but also for the entire Universe.’
‘Through his birth from a Virgin, Baby Jesus sanctifies human nature from within,’ the Patriarch said adding that ‘by being born in a cave, Jesus Christ sanctifies the nature of the earth, and by the fact that He was laid in a manger where food was placed for animals, He sanctifies the flora and fauna.’
‘He sanctifies the entire nature because that is why he came, to sanctify the world and to present it as a gift to God the Father after He would sanctify it perfectly through His sacrifice on the cross,’ Patriarch Daniel said.
The Patriarch of Romania used his Christmas homily to present the symbolism of the gifts offered by the three Magi since through these gifts we are able to recognise ‘the identity, dignity, and ministry of Baby Jesus.’
The Magi offered Him gold ‘because Jesus is the King of the ages.’
‘He is presented with frankincense because He is God,’ but also because ‘He is the High Priest who brings Himself as sacrifice for the sin of the world.’
He is offered myrrh because according to Eastern traditions ‘myrrh and aloe were used to anoint the departed.’ This points to the fact that ‘the King, the eternal Son who became Man, would pass through death to give resurrection and eternal life to humans.’
The Patriarch noted that ‘we bring gold to Christ by fulfilling Christ’s commandments to love God in prayer and our fellows through good deeds.’
‘The gold of our good deeds is the greatest adoration we can bring to Baby Jesus, when we show love to those around us, since he became a Man out of love for humans in order to save them and grant them eternal life,’ His Beatitude stressed.
‘Frankincense is our daily prayer.’
‘We bring myrrh to Baby Jesus when we change our pagan, evil, fallen, sinful behaviour to a gentle, helpful, merciful behaviour.’
Ending his speech, the Patriarch congratulated those who celebrate their name day on Christmas (Christian and Christiana) wishing them ‘good health and salvation, peace, joy and much help from God.’
‘During these days, let us show merciful, humble, generous love to those around us in order to answer to God’s love shown in Baby Jesus and in the entire salvific work of our Saviour,’ he said.
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Photography courtesy of Raluca Ene / Basilica.ro
