A new year is traditionally a time for reflection and resolutions. Reflection on what filled the prior year, and setting goals for the new year. A new year is also about starting afresh and realizing one’s dreams. So please join us in offering a prayer and raising a toast to a Happy New Year and to prosperous new beginnings. May your new year be richly blessed with peace, health, and happiness.
Today the Virgin gives birth to the Transcendent One, / And the earth offers a cave to the Unapproachable One! / Angels with shepherds glorify Him! / The wise men journey with a star! / Since for our sake the Eternal God was born as a Little Child!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVukNhhYJP4
“If we approach with faith, we too will see Jesus … for the Eucharistic table takes the place of the crib. Here the Body of the Lord is present, wrapped not in swaddling clothes but in the rays of the Holy Spirit”— St. John Chrysostom.
We extend our heartfelt prayers and blessings to each of you this Christmas. At Matins we festively chant “God is With Us” – “Съ Нами Богъ”! God appears on earth in the Christ-Child and is laid among the poor in an obscure cave. The Angels proclaim this Mystery singing “Glory to God in the Highest” and the wise men follow a star to the birth place of Christ offering gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Without deliberate and intentional effort, one can easily become caught up in the ever increasing secularization of Christmas. If at this moment we recognize that our primary focus has been on the consumerism and chaos that so often typifies the modern experience of the holiday, be of good cheer that it is never too late to offer a gift to Christ.
In one of the many traditional Orthodox hymns of the Nativity, we sing at Vespers:
What shall we offer You, O Christ,
Who for our sake has appeared on the earth as a man?
Every creature which You have made offers You thanks.
The angels offer You a song.
The heavens, their star.
The wise men, their gifts.
The shepherds, their wonder.
The earth, its cave.
The wilderness, the manger.
And we offer You a Virgin Mother.
O Pre-eternal God, have mercy on us!
Please consider committing some time over these sacred days to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. The most precious gift one can offer to God is oneself. May the peace and joy of Christmas envelop you through out this blessed season.
“When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:
To find the lost,
To heal the broken,
To feed the hungry,
To release the prisoner,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among brothers,
To make music in the heart.”
— from Essential Writings
by Howard Thurman, Luther E. Smith, Jr.
The Jesus you think you know might not be so! After spending years being typically depicted as a fair-skinned man with long light brown curls and light eyes, a new depiction of the man has been made.
Based on a new field of science, forensic anthropology, scientists were able to re-create an image of the biblical man. Scientists are now considering the image the most scientifically accurate image of him.
According to Esquire, researchers used well preserved specimens from that time to reconstruct the skull. Then used the bible and cultural history for clues of how Jesus would look physically.
Source: Getty Images
