In his first pastoral letter on the Nativity of the Lord in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, Romania’s second Patriarch Nicodim Munteanu urged the faithful to remember the cave in Bethlehem in times of unrest and insecurity, because only through the One born in it they would find escape, tranquillity, and peace of mind.
1. The great feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ has the wonderful and unspeakable power to envelop the souls and hearts of Christians in heavenly grace and light.
2. Over the tumult of dark souls and the storm of iniquity, behold, the heavens open an unquenchable light, send a wave of forgiveness and a message of peace, of holy calling that passes wonderfully from one end of the world to the other.
3. The little city of Bethlehem did not have a place for Jesus. So likewise, the small and large cities of today’s world can hardly find a tiny abode for Jesus Christ. His light, peace, holiness, and divine teaching are hardly received in the cities of the earth.
4. It is suitable for today’s Christmas to be an occasion for spiritual elevation to the heights of heroic and truly redeeming thoughts: the holy thought of a rebirth with the whole inner being, to a life like that of the Lord Christ.
5. In these hours of uneasiness and insecurity, turn your gaze and thought to the humble cave of Bethlehem. To the Baby Jesus glorified by heaven and earth. In Him, we will find the escape, the haven, and the peace of the troubled heart.
Photography courtesy of the Romanian Patriarchate’s files
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