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How Do We Prepare for Christmas?


You can’t prepare for Christmas and have fun at the same time.

First of all, we should remind ourselves daily about the day when the Son of God himself appeared miraculously on earth as a Baby. Looking at Bethlehem, we must realize how trivial and laughable all our daily routines are in comparison with the splendor of the coming feast. Before the holiday, we should lay aside all kinds of hatred, all malevolence, and do our best to be amiable even with those whom we have broken up with and whose actions we oppose. Let’s remember that kind parents love their disobedient children even if they punish them sometimes. We all are children of our Heavenly Father!

We should observe the fast established by the Church. It is thanks to this fast that we can keep our passions at bay by avoiding both forbidden foods and entertainment. We must by no means disregard the fast even when there are people around us who celebrate the feast of Nativity in their own fashion.

Jesus Christ wasn’t born twice. He was born of Virgin Mary just once. You can’t prepare for Christmas and have fun at the same time, thus essentially trampling on the traditions and rules set by the Church!

It isn’t a way of celebrating the First Coming of Christ to this earth. It’s a way of pampering our desire to have fun, which doesn’t benefit us at all.

Let us get ready for the day when the choir sings the solemn Thy nativity, O Christ our God, has shown to the world the light of wisdom. That’s when we shall feel the joy of Nativity. That’s when our souls will make it to Bethlehem and our hearts will welcome Christ.

By St. John of Shanghai, 
From “Sermons and Homilies”

Translated by The Catalog of Good Deeds


Source: https://pravlife.org/ru/content/kak-nam-prigotovlyat-sebya-k-dostoynoy-vstreche-rozhdestva-hristova

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