“Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), said the Lord to His disciples. And we, dear fathers, brothers and sisters, counting ourselves as among the disciples of Christ, are called to preach His Resurrection both with a good word and by the power of living according to the Gospel.
From my whole heart, I wish for you all to spend these all-joyous days in good health and cheerful disposition, perceiving the victorious power of God and the illumination of the Light of His Resurrection on the Third Day, so that in the future, when it seems to us that “Hades doth reign,” we might remember that its reign over us is “not forever,” as we read in the canon of Great Saturday, and that we might find in that the strength to overcome any trials in this life!
By comparison to Great Lent, the Nativity fast may leave us feeling liturgically unmoored. But if we delve into the services of this season, we will find a great wealth of liturgical texts and commemorations that are beautifully and intrinsically tied to the coming birth of our Saviour.