The 1999 Anniversary
of the
Nativity
of Our Lord
Ushering
in the Third Millennium
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The 1999 Anniversary of the Nativity
of Our Lord Ushering
in the Third Millennium |
To
the clergy, laity and friends of the Melkite Eparchy of Newton:
My
dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
Life
is worth living. Jesus came to give us life and to give it to us more abundantly
(John 10:10). The best life is the one spent with the Lord.
There is a beautiful Arabic saying: "Look for the companion before
you look for the road; and look for the neighbor before you look for the
house". If "we judge people by the company they keep", then being
with God is the best way to fulfill our life.
I
wish you a happy, healthy and holy New Year preparing us for the abundant
blessings of the Third Millennium. I
am pleased to share with you the following reflections as a preparation for the
New Year and for the coming New Millennium.
May the joys of Our Lord's Glorious Nativity fill your life during this
Holy Season and overflow through every single day of the New Year and of the new
Millennium, both in time and in eternity.
Joy
in the Lord is expressed in different ways. Joy is a sure sign of God’s
presence in our hearts. Sometimes,
exuberant joy is a loud assertion of an abundance of life within.
However, a loud expression may indicate an abundance of life, or may
indicate a deep yearning for a real fulfillment, which can be given by God
alone. “Every good gift and every perfect grace is from above and comes down
from the Father of lights.” (James 1:17)
Our
joy at Christmas is doubled by the display of generosity and love that we show
to others. However, “If you love
those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the
same? And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do
not even the tax collectors do so? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your
Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:46-48)
This
Christmas Season of 1999 is a very special and a very unique opportunity to show
our joy, our hope and our love. This opportunity knocks at our doors once every
one thousand years. No wonder that many people all over the world are worried,
apprehensive, anxious, hopeful, puzzled and afraid in the expectation of the
unknown. I wish all of them would
hear and heed the comforting words of St. Paul: “We know that all things work
together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to
His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)
Our
1999 Christmas, ushering in the Year of the Lord 2000 should afford us a last
minute preparation for the great Event, to which people refer as Y2K (Year
2000!). Has humanity progressed on the road of virtue and godliness two thousand
years after the birth of the Lord of morality and Goodness? Has time matured us
into a choice aged wine? May I
invite you here to ask, with Our Lord, the serious question: “When the Son of
Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
(Luke 18:8) A great
challenge is offered to us by Our Lord’s question. Shall we answer, “Yes,
Lord!” Shall we be the ones who keep the faith, and spread the faith, and keep
the faith alive, in the joyful expectation of the Son of Man?
A
COUNTERCULTURE MOVEMENT
With
full respect to any congenial expression of exuberant joy at the dawn of the New
Millennium, allow me to remind you of a new “Spirit Movement” that has been
gaining ground in recent years, to create a better world within and without.
The candid question is: Are we going to welcome the New Millennium only
with drinking and making silly noise? To the optimist, this display of childlike
exhilaration may remind us of Our Lord’s instruction: Assuredly I say to you,
unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means
enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)
However, allow me to recommend a more adult and more fulfilling way to
welcome the New Millennium, as I know many people in recent times have welcomed
the New Year: A Vesper Service, A joyfully spiritual family gathering, a
“Happy Hour” of songs and sharing concluded with a Midnight Divine Liturgy.
If St. Paul was living today on earth, I am sure he would be delighted to
join such groups. Aren’t they
following to the letter his wise advice?
“Be
careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of
the time, because the days are evil. So do not be foolish, but understand what
the will of the Lord is. Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but
be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs
among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts. (Ephes.
5:15-19)
My
dearly beloved in Christ,
St.
Paul challenges us: “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit.” (Galatians 5:25)
On the first Christmas, the shepherds offered
Jesus their adoration and probably their humble products of their sheep, the
magi worshipped he Divine Child, opened their treasures and presented precious
gifts to Him, gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11) As gifts of ours, let
us offer Him, and exchange with each other, at Christmas and at the opening of
the New Millennium, “the fruit of the Spirit,… love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
This is our challenge for the New Millennium and for our lifetime.
These gifts, joined to His gift of Himself for our salvation, will
hopefully assure us of joy, happiness and eternal life.
May this Christmas Season 1999, ushering the
Year of the Lord 2000, be blessed for you, your families and all those dear to
you. May you come closer to Our Lord Who was born for our salvation. He emptied
Himself and assumed our humanity in order to make us rich by His divinity.
CHRIST IS BORN! GLORIFY HIM!