“Today we celebrate the most important invitation of God to His children that was made through His Incarnation through the Theotokos, and His stay among us as a man. We are invited to respond to this philanthropic and extraordinary action of God by changing our lives. We are called to change our lives, so that we can love, with all our heart, God and the heavenly eternal goods instead of the fleshly and material goods of the world. As Saint Gregory says: “Consequently, let us celebrate the feast, not like the world but in a divine way, not in a secular way, by seeking the higher.”
The above is mentioned, among other things, by Metropolitan Athenagoras of Belgium in his Christmas message.
He relies on the words of St. Gregory the Theologian who invites us to celebrate Christmas in a divine way, because it is the great celebration of the Nativity of Christ. “These profound words of St. Gregory the Theologian, quoted above, give rise to feelings of great joy and hope, for God was incarnated for His children,” he characteristically states.
He also invites believers to regard our loved ones as gifts of God to us, and to focus all our love on people rather than on material goods.
“Again this year, please do not forget our Mother Church, our Ecumenical Patriarchate, which continues in the midst of many difficulties to enlighten from the Phanar,” Metropolitan Athenagoras concludes.
Source: Metropolis of Belgium
