My beloved Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

It is well known that God “bowed the heavens and came down” (Psalm 18:9) in Bethlehem of Judea, some 2024 years ago. The Son and Word of God, that is, Jesus Christ, “came down from heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became human” “for us and for our salvation,” as we confess in the third article of the Creed. Yet, paradoxically, He is also born throughout time. He is also born “today”! “This day Christ is born of the Virgin” to every person of goodwill who seeks salvation in Him; who with spiritual joy welcomes Christ into his heart as his personal Redeemer; who with mighty love constantly strives to be united with the Bridegroom Christ. 

Unfortunately, however, neither then, nor today, do all of us accept the God-Man, who as a “maniacal lover” (St. John of Sinai) knocks at the door of every person’s soul to build a personal relationship. The sad result is that Christ awaits outside because:

Christ is not born in the heart of anyone who does not desire it, because He respects the freedom, that He gave him when He created him “in His image”.

Christ is not born in the heart of anyone who hates his or her neighbor and does not live based on crucified love.

Christ is not born in the heart of anyone whose selfishness and avarice have overwhelmed his or her soul and who does not cultivate the fragrant flower of exalted humility.

Christ is not born in the heart of anyone who does not follow the divine way of repentance when he or she commits sins, but instead stubbornly insists on satisfying sinful passions by following his or her own will and not the will of our heavenly Father.

Christ is not born in the heart of anyone who supports in theory and in practice war, violence, inequality, racism, social injustice, or ecological destruction.

My beloved, 

Let us all this year welcome Christ in freedom, in sacrificial love, in humility, in repentance, by engaging faithfully with the social problems of our time. Only then, thanks to God’s Incarnation, we will be “deified” (St. Athanasios the Great). Let us therefore unite with Him so that we may truly unite with our fellow human beings and bring them the “glad tidings … that today a Saviour has been born for you” (Lk 2:10-11). Thus, we, too, will be able to praise God throughout our lifetime for His glorious Incarnation and sing together with “the multitude of the heavenly host of angels: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all!'” (Lk. 2: 13-14).

On behalf of our distinguished clergy and our precious collaborators in the Lord, I wish every one of you a blessed Christmas!

With much love and honor in the Incarnate Christ,

+ Metropolitan Ambrosios of Korea and Exarch of Japan