WEBVTT 00:00:00.040 --> 00:00:04.259 Christo Aniceto. For unto us a child is born, 00:00:04.419 --> 00:00:08.599 unto us a son is given, and the government shall 00:00:08.599 --> 00:00:12.400 be upon his shoulders. His name will be called 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:19.859 Angel of Great Counsel. His peace shall have 00:00:19.859 --> 00:00:28.809 no end. Every liturgy we begin You don't hear 00:00:28.809 --> 00:00:32.950 it, mostly. Sometimes there's too much commotion 00:00:32.950 --> 00:00:35.170 going on, people coming in. You don't hear it. 00:00:35.350 --> 00:00:37.590 I say, Glory to God in the highest, on earth 00:00:37.590 --> 00:00:41.770 peace, good will toward men. Two times. O Lord, 00:00:41.789 --> 00:00:43.689 open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy 00:00:43.689 --> 00:00:47.049 praise. And then we begin the liturgy. We say 00:00:47.049 --> 00:00:49.210 that before we exclaim, Blessed is the kingdom. 00:00:51.130 --> 00:00:54.670 And those are the words that the shepherds heard 00:00:54.670 --> 00:00:59.070 from the angels in Bethlehem. Words never heard 00:00:59.070 --> 00:01:05.609 on earth before. Incredible. Literally unimaginable. 00:01:06.569 --> 00:01:12.790 Peace on earth. Goodwill toward men. A child 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:17.709 bringing this. We start every matin service with 00:01:17.709 --> 00:01:19.969 that too. Glory to God in the highest. Peace 00:01:19.969 --> 00:01:22.469 and goodwill toward men. And we end matin service 00:01:22.469 --> 00:01:24.709 with that too. You hear that verse constantly. 00:01:25.609 --> 00:01:30.810 Because we are to offer glory to God all the 00:01:30.810 --> 00:01:38.750 time. Remember, God came to us as a child. We 00:01:38.750 --> 00:01:44.769 rightly lament that the incarnation, since the 00:01:44.769 --> 00:01:50.849 incarnation, since the resurrection, the ascension, 00:01:50.909 --> 00:01:57.930 Pentecost, Over 2 ,000 years, peace on earth 00:01:57.930 --> 00:02:02.969 is not something we've seen yet. Violence, war, 00:02:03.189 --> 00:02:07.129 oppression on and on, terrible, frightening things, 00:02:07.430 --> 00:02:12.610 spiritually sick things. But the peace in the 00:02:12.610 --> 00:02:16.150 gospel that is preached is not the kind of peace 00:02:16.150 --> 00:02:22.009 that is simply friendship between people or between 00:02:22.009 --> 00:02:25.370 countries or between cities or between rulers. 00:02:25.610 --> 00:02:32.969 It's not that kind of peace. I wonder, do we 00:02:32.969 --> 00:02:37.110 want a savior to come and repair this earthly 00:02:37.110 --> 00:02:41.310 home for us? Herod was afraid of Jesus, the newborn 00:02:41.310 --> 00:02:44.189 king, because he thought he would take away his 00:02:44.189 --> 00:02:50.020 power. Babies don't come with power. Do they? 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:57.020 They come with needs. We are also not to abandon 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:01.379 this world either. But this is not the kind of 00:03:01.379 --> 00:03:04.280 kingdom that the Lord brought. The ancient Pharisees 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.280 exactly wanted Jesus to establish that kind of 00:03:08.280 --> 00:03:12.800 worldly kingdom, a kingdom of coercion and power. 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:19.889 But God came as a child. The Christmas gift of 00:03:19.889 --> 00:03:24.430 peace on earth, goodwill, is not just this friendship, 00:03:24.669 --> 00:03:31.069 lack of war. The peace of the gospel is within, 00:03:31.210 --> 00:03:35.789 isn't it? It's the state of peace that rules 00:03:35.789 --> 00:03:40.110 in the soul of the faithful person, the person 00:03:40.110 --> 00:03:44.590 who has friendship and communion with God. It's 00:03:44.590 --> 00:03:49.409 a peace between God and man. That God makes. 00:03:50.349 --> 00:03:55.409 It's not between us that we make. The Son of 00:03:55.409 --> 00:03:58.250 God brought peace to this world. And if this 00:03:58.250 --> 00:04:01.770 peace is not in us, it does us no good to demand 00:04:01.770 --> 00:04:09.110 that others be good. To condemn everyone else. 00:04:09.669 --> 00:04:13.830 Because we haven't yet the kingdom of God in 00:04:13.830 --> 00:04:19.370 our heart. The late and ever memorable Metropolitan 00:04:19.370 --> 00:04:22.009 Theodosius wrote once, he said, one of the greatest 00:04:22.009 --> 00:04:24.629 stumbling blocks to the acquisition of spiritual 00:04:24.629 --> 00:04:27.670 peace and tranquility is the amount of time, 00:04:27.829 --> 00:04:32.649 inappropriately, that we spend trying to regulate 00:04:32.649 --> 00:04:36.870 the lives of other people. Rather than becoming 00:04:36.870 --> 00:04:40.410 anxious about all we feel others ought to do, 00:04:40.550 --> 00:04:43.370 ought not to be doing, how the world ought to 00:04:43.370 --> 00:04:47.920 run, we must calmly And honestly, he said, see 00:04:47.920 --> 00:04:51.100 what it is that we are called and able to do 00:04:51.100 --> 00:04:56.339 and concentrate on that. Learn the spirit of 00:04:56.339 --> 00:05:00.040 peace. Peace I leave with you, Jesus said. My 00:05:00.040 --> 00:05:02.240 peace I give to you. Different kind of peace, 00:05:02.399 --> 00:05:04.839 not the worldly kind of peace, he said. Not as 00:05:04.839 --> 00:05:10.100 the world gives do I give you that peace. The 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:13.360 question is, brothers and sisters, how do we 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:21.519 acquire that? Jesus came as a child, then it's 00:05:21.519 --> 00:05:28.339 easy. It's easy. Anyone who has had a baby, has 00:05:28.339 --> 00:05:32.019 taken care of a baby, or remembers taking care 00:05:32.019 --> 00:05:38.660 of a child, how is your life regulated? By that 00:05:38.660 --> 00:05:43.779 child, day in, day out, and mostly at night, 00:05:43.860 --> 00:05:49.410 when you need some sleep. Attention. Attention 00:05:49.410 --> 00:05:56.329 constantly. You see, in a way, but without the 00:05:56.329 --> 00:05:59.290 coercion, without the demanding needs of the 00:05:59.290 --> 00:06:03.970 child, our Lord, who has been born in our hearts, 00:06:04.110 --> 00:06:06.490 and you heard St. Paul say, you are all sons. 00:06:06.790 --> 00:06:10.930 He's not trying to be just, he's not talking 00:06:10.930 --> 00:06:14.889 to the men in Galatia. He means those, the sons 00:06:14.889 --> 00:06:17.009 who are legal, those who are the ones legally, 00:06:17.799 --> 00:06:20.000 inheriting all the wealth of the Father. You 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:23.160 are all sons by baptism, and you cry out in your 00:06:23.160 --> 00:06:26.579 heart, Abba, Father. When we give our attention 00:06:26.579 --> 00:06:31.480 to the child who has been planted in our heart, 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:36.019 the kingdom, Bethlehem in the soul, as if we 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:40.500 had a child, but that wasn't demanding of us, 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:47.319 that didn't ask us of anything. But will give 00:06:47.319 --> 00:06:51.600 us that peace if we bring our attention to that. 00:06:52.259 --> 00:06:56.759 Just think, brothers and sisters, what joy, what 00:06:56.759 --> 00:07:00.939 peace you will be to the world. You will truly 00:07:00.939 --> 00:07:06.800 be Christophers, the ones who bear Christ. And 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:11.579 nothing will take that peace away. Let me end 00:07:11.579 --> 00:07:16.339 these miscellaneous thoughts. with some words 00:07:16.339 --> 00:07:20.819 of the Holy Saint Philaret, Metropolitan of Moscow, 00:07:21.019 --> 00:07:30.240 from a homily he gave in 1823. We must try to 00:07:30.240 --> 00:07:33.339 be not merely attentive listeners of the word 00:07:33.339 --> 00:07:38.759 of Christ, but also doers of the works of salvation. 00:07:40.420 --> 00:07:43.699 Emulate the shepherds. who, having heard the 00:07:43.699 --> 00:07:46.600 voice of the angel, were not content with mere 00:07:46.600 --> 00:07:50.540 wonder, but came with haste and found Mary and 00:07:50.540 --> 00:07:54.300 Joseph and the babe lying in a manger. Emulate 00:07:54.300 --> 00:07:57.660 the Virgin Mary herself, who kept all these things 00:07:57.660 --> 00:08:02.100 and pondered them in her heart. Place the word 00:08:02.100 --> 00:08:05.699 of the child Jesus in your heart, and just as 00:08:05.699 --> 00:08:09.600 an expectant woman pregnant with child walks 00:08:09.600 --> 00:08:14.470 and acts, carefully so as not to endanger the 00:08:14.470 --> 00:08:17.329 child in her womb. So also you must walk and 00:08:17.329 --> 00:08:20.509 act in this world with care and about what you 00:08:20.509 --> 00:08:23.790 touch and come into contact with so that nothing 00:08:23.790 --> 00:08:26.670 can cast out from your hearts the sweet memory 00:08:26.670 --> 00:08:30.509 and the love and the peace from above that comes 00:08:30.509 --> 00:08:34.110 from the child Jesus. Do not lose the spirit 00:08:34.110 --> 00:08:36.850 of salvation that has come to be born in your 00:08:36.850 --> 00:08:41.659 soul which he will nurture In all of you by his 00:08:41.659 --> 00:08:47.000 grace. He will mother you. Entering through faith 00:08:47.000 --> 00:08:49.820 into your hearts. And abiding there forever. 00:08:50.620 --> 00:08:53.039 Amen. Christ is born.