MESSAGE IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD 2024
FOR THE NATIVITY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST
What shall we offer you, O Christ,
because you have appeared on earth as a man for our sakes?
For each of the creatures made by you offers you its thanks:
the Angels their hymn; the heavens the Star;
the Shepherds their wonder; the Magi their gifts;
the earth the Cave; the desert the Manger;
but we a Virgin Mother.
God before the ages, have mercy on us.
(Vespers of Nativity)
Your Grace, beloved bishop of Pärnu and Saaremaa Alexander,
Deacons and Priests so fond to my heart,
Highly esteemed people of our Holy Church of Estonia,
You all who hear us in this moment,
Today a great joy is announced to us, a sign is given: a baby
wrapped and placed in a manger awaits us in Bethlehem. Christ
God is not somewhere above us. Now, Christ, the Love without
limits is not elsewhere but at home with us, in our homes. Today,
as yesterday and tomorrow, Jesus, the Love without limits comes
to live with us. He is our way; He is the light that is offered
to us so that we do not walk in darkness. Jesus Love without
limits came among us to open the door of true life. Incredible,
you would say. But it is precisely this incredible that we must
accept to overcome in the fragility of this Child whose birth
we celebrate and who is God himself, made visible in the existence
of a man named Jesus.
It takes the audacity of hope to recognize this sign unrecognizable
to our understanding: the God of before the ages, the Word that
carries everything as the evangelist John (1:1-4) points out
to us, the eternal Son of the Father offers himself to us, newborn,
in a manger of cattle. This is our hope, the certainty from
which joy springs, the certainty that thanks to this incomprehensible
descent of our God everything can be saved. What an incredible
value our life must have for God to assume it!... There is in
this reality something to intoxicate us, something to upset
us: we are loved! This is the word that comes from the stable
of Bethlehem. Let us receive this declaration, this message
of boundless Love, just like the simple shepherds, with humility
and joyful trust, so that we too may go where the child Jesus
awaits us. Surely, the One who led the angels, shepherds and
magi to this cave is the same One who on this special and holy
day, teaches and instructs us in the secret of our heart according
to this astonishing expression, indeed, but oh how true, of
Saint Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (1:21-25):
“since the world, with its wisdom, has not known God in
the wisdom of God, it pleased God to save believers by folly...
For the folly of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of
God is stronger than men.”
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Metropolitan
STEPHANOS of Tallinn and all Estonia
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It is now appropriate “to ask ourselves, says Jean-Yves
Garneau in his book Paroles pour la route, how ready we are
to be pushed by God. He hopes that those to whom he wishes to
come that they will take the risk of the great adventure with
Him.” And he adds: “Are we capable of a bit of madness
to go on the adventure with the Son of God who comes to us?
Let us follow in the footsteps of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who
for love of God said “yes” to what men consider
folly. Madness for which Christ will say that it is "wisdom
of God".
Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord,
Christ is born, give glory; Christ comes from heaven, go to
meet him! Let's put aside our sadness, our hesitations! Today
a poor little child was born to us, poorer than us, who is waiting
for us in Bethlehem. Let us open the doors of our hearts to
Him and on our knees before His manger let us say to Him: to
our enemies’ forgiveness, to our adversary’s tolerance,
to the most deprived the fire of hospitality, to all the flame
of charity. Lord Jesus may every family, every child, every
sick person, every persecuted person, every exile, every prisoner,
every deportee, every needy person benefits from Your mercy
and Your eternal love so that peace may finally come to the
earth. Amen!
Tallinn,
Nativity of Our Lord
25 December 2024.
+ STEPHANOS,
Metropolitan of Tallinn and all Estonia,
Chairman of the Holy Synod.
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