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2005 Christmas message from Metropolitan Gabriel
"Today the Unapproachable in Essence is born, and He is wrapped in swaddling clothes. He who has laid the foundations of the heavens is lying in a crib." Hymn from Matins of the Feast of the Nativity The voice of God, the only Son, born before the centuries, takes flesh and becomes man. He comes to live among us, to give sight to the blind, to straighten the crippled, to refine the soul and bodies that are debilitated by the disease of sin - to give back to man access to the One who can make us perfect. It was possible for He Himself to come into the world in all the glory, majesty and power of God. He preferred to be bom in a crib, and live with human beings, the Humble One amongst us lowly ones, working and teaching in order to bring liberty, and to offer a life lived in love. I am speaking here to the faithful, beloved in our Church, and to all believers. I invite you to open your doors and to leave them wide open in order to welcome the Divine Child. If you do, you will benefit from the blessings and grace which the heavenly Father has sent us by His Son, the Mediator for more than 2000 years. He passes on to us a message of peace and liberty. He has come in order to teach us reverence for the truth, to encourage brotherly relations between individuals and families. He has come to defend the rights of the human person against all oppression, tyranny and enslavement. Let Him come into your home, open your heart to Him! He will cleanse away all the rancour, which is the source of all evil; it goads people into crime and a spirit of revenge. The Divine Child asks of us that we free ourselves from every kind of rancour and hatred, that we learn to respect others, defend their rights and establish loving relationships with people. Everywhere in the world around us we only see entrenched conflicts. Violence only makes the days longer for people - and increases the number of those victimised. Children are being killed and their bodies left strewn along the roadway. The wounded, displaced persons, orphans, widows and old people are without shelter, exposed to the rigours of the elements. They can be counted in thousands. Churches and other religious places are destroyed or abandoned. From all this it would seem the world has stopped its ears from hearing the voice of God. It does not hear the God who called to Cain saying, "where is your brother, Abel? What have you done? Listen to the cry of your brother's blood crying out to Me from the earth" (Genesis 4:9-10). And what does the world do? What is it waiting for before it puts an end to these massacres? Christmas is a good time for examining our hearts in the light of Christ. Let us hold ourselves in a spirit of humility and compunction before the Child of Bethlehem. Pray for peace to come back to the earth, and for harmony to prevail between peoples. Let us ask the All-Holy New Born to cause us to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of justice and peace, of forgiveness, tolerance, concord and love between human beings and between peoples and nations. Beloved, Christ is our peace on the earth. Allow Him to send his light to shine upon the darknesses of our heart. It will give our soul - His splendour and our face - his smile. Let us glorify God and shout out: "glory to God in the highest, heaven and peace on earth to all men whom He loves." |
