CHRISTMAS PASTORAL LETTER: Preparing for the most precious gift (12/20/98)

CHRISTMAS PASTORAL LETTER

Preparing for the most precious gift

To the Reverend Clergy,
the Venerable Monastic Orders
and our Beloved Faithful:

Peace in the Lord and our archiepiscopal blessing: Christ is born! Glorify Him!

The joyous Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ always brings to mind the great love that God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth, constantly has for us, for, "He so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him, will not perish, but will have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Therefore, Beloved in Christ, the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ to earth is that most precious gift, given to us as evidence of the love of God the Father for us, His children, who were burdened with sin.

Our holy father, Pope John Paul II, has dedicated 1999, the final year of preparation for the Great Jubilee, which will commemorate the Second Millennium of the coming to earth of God's Son for the salvation of humankind, to the First Person of the Holy Trinity, God the Father, and to His boundless love for His children. Together with our festive celebration of the glorious Holy Day of the Nativity of Christ, we seek to worship more profoundly the Person of God the Father, so that we learn to appreciate as best we can, "His great love, with which He loved us" (Eph. 2:4).

We are God's creation and fully dependent upon Him as our Creator. He created us as the Prophet reminds us, "for His glory" (Is. 43:7). Thus, our first obligation on earth then, is to worship the Lord God and exalt His name by observing His holy Commandments. Our most merciful Lord God, nevertheless, who created us "in His image and likeness" (Gen. 1:26), wished us to be more than servants who obeyed His will in fear, or were threatened by His anger or eternal punishment. He is truly eternal love (I John 4:16), and intended us to serve Him and fulfill His Commandments in love, as faithful children, who revere their Father and do His will. By breathing "the breath of life" (Gen. 2:7) into man and woman, the Lord God graced them with the supernatural life of God's grace, by means of which they became children of God, and God became their Father. The love of God thus appeared in their hearts so that as His creation, they would be ready in love to serve and fulfill His divine will.

Because of original sin, however, our first parents and their descendants lost the supernatural life of grace and the dignity of God's children. The shadow of eternal loss hovered over them. The fear of God's wrath encompassed them, and eventually replaced the love of God in their heart, so that they now served God as slaves, in fear of His retribution. Then the Lord God sounded his voice in thunder and lightning on Mount. Sinai, "I, the Lord, am your God" (Exodus 20:2). As a result, Moses did not hesitate to announce: "Now Israel, your Lord God requires of you that you fear the Lord your God, walking in His paths, and observing His Commandments (Deut. 10:12-13). From that time forward, as the Holy Spirit confirms for us, men and women were guided by the inspiring words, "Fear God and obey His Commandments" (Eccl. 12:13).

The Psalmist was thus inspired to say, "Blessed is the man who fears the Lord" (Ps. 128:1).

In His infinite love, the Lord God desired to liberate men and women from their servile fear of His judgment, and to restore them to their dignity as children of God. Having before them the hope of eternal life, they could once more observe His divine Commandments. In the "fullness of time" of God's promise, "God sent His only begotten Son, born of a woman" (Gal. 4:4) to redeem us from the punishment of sin, and to those who believe in Him "He gave the right to become the children of God" (John 3:5). And so, reborn, "of water and the Holy Spirit (John 3:5) into life eternal, we become children of God, as is confirmed by St. Paul, "You are no longer servants, but children of God" (Gal 4:7).

As children of God, we no longer fear Him, but love Him with our whole heart and with confidence, we fulfill His holy will. "Love," as St. John the Evangelist teaches us, "has no room for fear; rather perfect love casts out all fear" (I John 4:18). It is through the coming of Jesus Christ, that the Lord God once again becomes our Heavenly Father, and we, His beloved children.

The Lord God, our Heavenly Father, loves us in a measure beyond that of any earthly father.

God is infinitive love (I John 4:16). All human love pales before God's love, as shadows disappear before the bright rays of the sun. God's love is eternal, for He is eternal. God's love is infinite, for He is infinite. God's love is changeless, for He is changeless. The love of our Heavenly Father is never diminished, even when His children fall into sin.

God is "rich in mercy" (Eph. 2:4) and "does not wish the death of a sinner, but that he repents and lives" (Ezekiel 33:11), as His child, protected by the grace of God's love. In his boundless love, the Lord God appears to constrain His wayward child. He never ceases to knock at the door of our hearts with the grace of His mercy, and through the constant sounding of conscience He unceasingly reaches out to our souls, calling us to repentance. He patiently awaits the moment when our souls turn from the paths of sin and, like the Prodigal Son, we throw ourselves into the arms of our loving father (Luke 15:20). It was for this reason that He sent His only begotten Son to a sinful world, to "call sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

Through the Nativity of the Son of God, who was sent by the Father "to the world, to redeem sinners (1 Tim. 1:15) we "come to know and believe in the love that God, our Heavenly Father, has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in that love, abides in God, and God in Him" (1 John 4:16). This love that the Lord God "poured into our hearts" (Rom. 5:5) regenerates us into the life of God's grace through the Holy Spirit, makes us "partakers of God's nature" (1 Peter 1:4), and divinizes us. Our Heavenly Father, through his Son Jesus Christ, commands us: "Live on in My love" (John 15:9).

Through the love of God "we are transformed into the image of God" (2 Cor. 3:18), and as children of God we become like unto God (Gen. 1:26). God lives in us through His love, and we in him. The gates of heaven are opened to us through God's love. It is through God's love that eventually we shall be united with our Heavenly Father in eternal love, and shall live in His heavenly mansions. He created us for just this purpose. He seeks only one thing from us, that we love Him "with our whole heart, our whole soul and our whole mind." For us, as children of God, this should always be our first and greatest commandment (Mt. 22: 37-38).

Today, I greet you, beloved in Christ, on this glorious feast of the Nativity of our Lord, by extending my paternal best wishes to you. May our Heavenly Father, the God of all love and grace, who, "in Christ Jesus called us to His eternal glory (1 Peter 5:10), fill your hearts and homes with peace, love and joy as children of God, for the glory of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.

Christ is born! Glorify Him!

With my Archiepiscopal Blessing,

Stephen
Metropolitan

Walter
Auxiliary Bishop

Given in Philadelphia at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Most Pure Mother of God, the sixth day of the month of December 1998 A.D.

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