“God Seeks His Place in the Human Heart”: His Beatitude Sviatoslav on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers
May we not be afraid to celebrate Christmas and rejoice at this time, for this joy does not emanate from people but from the Lord God. This evening, the Holy Family wants to visit us and bring to our homes and hearts the eternal God, who has become a man among us today. His Beatitude Sviatoslav, the Father and Head of the UGCC, said this in his sermon on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers, December 24, at the Patriarchal Cathedral.
The Primate noted that today’s Gospel of Matthew tells us the genealogy of Jesus Christ; thus, we feel the worldwide cosmic movement of convergence — man seeks God, and God seeks man. The culmination of this movement is the sacrament of the incarnation, when God becomes a man, and the Creator enters the history of His creation.
However, what do the fathers whose memory we honor today wish to tell us? Like every person, they are constantly searching for themselves, for their place on this earth. Man is looking for a place. Still, he will finally find it only in God.
The archbishop emphasized that God is also looking for his place in man. “God knocks on the human heart. And only those who open their hearts, personal space, and lives will be honored with the special grace that God will enter them,” said His Beatitude Sviatoslav.
He explained that today, the Evangelist Matthew invites us to look at the path of St. Joseph the Betrothed, who seems to have completed the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Joseph, who believed, created the space for the mystery of the Nativity to take place as the pinnacle of human history. The Holy Family moves to Bethlehem, where the glory of God begins to shine from a humble cave.
“Today, as we celebrate this Christmas, we feel that there are those who want to steal this Christmas from us. It is the second time we are celebrating Christmas during a full-scale war. And it so happens that during the greatest holidays, the enemy seeks to unleash the most attacks and death on our Ukrainian land,” the Patriarch said.
He emphasized that we can steal Christmas from ourselves: “Every time we dilute the Christmas holiday from its deep, spiritual, religious meaning, turn it into a holiday of commerce, entertainment, or use it for other mundane purposes, that Christmas is stolen from us. Just as the mystery of God’s incarnation, the Nativity of Christ was stolen from us by those who in Bethlehem did not find room for the Holy Family that knocks.”
“I extend my greetings to you on this coming holiday! I wish you to experience this day deeply and to be worthily prepared for the Child who wants to come to your home today,” wished His Beatitude Sviatoslav. “Lord, I come to Your sanctuary in search of Your presence, so I may witness Your power and glory embodied in the small divine Child cradled in Mary’s arms.”
After the Divine Liturgy, the Plast members solemnly handed the Bethlehem Fire to the Patriarch and received his bishop’s blessing. “May millions of small candles of the Bethlehem Fire of Peace be lit throughout Ukraine and worldwide. So that this Christmas, which we celebrate for the first time together with various Churches and Christians of Ukraine and the world, we can comfort the hearts of millions with the light of our faith, hope, and the Peace Light of Bethlehem,” the Primate wished.
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