On this day we celebrate the most important Birthday in the Universe - the Birth of our Lord, the Creator and Savior of the world! The significance of the Nativity of Jesus Christ is so great that the whole world, even non-Christian, has been counting time for centuries from this epochal event! And if we seriously prepare and joyfully celebrate the birthdays of our loved ones, then how much more seriously should we prepare for the Nativity of the Savior, and how much more deeply and widely should we rejoice at His Birth!
The 40-day Nativity Fast serves as a preparation for the Nativity of Christ. Although it is not strict (on certain days you can eat fish), it has great spiritual significance.
From people's experience, I can say that those who have not fasted (if they could not do it physically due to their health, then at least spiritually) will not experience true joy during the Nativity of Christ, will not feel with all their heart a real spiritual happiness on this day, will not become spiritually intoxicated by that Divine, gracious joy that the Lord gives to those who fasted, prayed, confessed and took communion during the fast, and fought with their passions. This spiritual joy cannot be fully described in words; it can only be felt through a correct spiritual life, especially during the fast!
It is customary to give gifts on birthdays... The ancient Eastern sages who came from Persia, being first and foremost spiritual people, and only then scholars and rulers, brought gifts with spiritual meaning to Christ - gold as to a King, incense as to a High Priest, myrrh as to a Man. What can we, sinful people, bring to our sinless Lord? In Scripture He says one thing: Son, give me your heart.
Is every heart pleasing to the Lord?
No. Only a humble and contrite heart will God not despise! Therefore, we need to bring three main gifts to our savior: the gift of humility, the gift of love for the Lord, and the gift of love for all people! In fact, how else can we surprise and please our God, in whose hand is the entire Universe?! Only by voluntarily and consciously choosing the path of following Him, the path of becoming like Him in our lives.
This path is always connected not only with our birth into the world, but also with bearing the personal cross of sorrows, temptations and sufferings, with passing through the spiritual desert, with the ascent to our personal Golgotha. But then after all this, after Golgotha, by the grace of God, our Resurrection will come!
Therefore, the connection between the holidays of the Nativity of Christ and His Resurrection is direct! Christ was born to go through His life's journey, to suffer and to rise again! And we are here on Earth for this!
But for now, we celebrate the Bright Day of the Nativity of our beloved Savior, and our joy is endless! This measure can only be limited by the capacity of our hearts! The more we purify our hearts with God's help, the more we will be able to rejoice at this Divine feast of faith, a feast dedicated to the Nativity of our Savior!
The more we love Christ, the more we will rejoice at His Nativity! Do we love Him? The answer is in the heart of each of us...
Author of the article: Maxim Zlobin, Orthodox Christian missionary, publicist, graduate of the Moscow Theological Academy.
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