“That wars may be silenced….”

Today the television and newspapers report excessively of disasters, murders, poverty and acts of inhumanity. Contrary to the Good News of the Nativity, which proclaims the birth of the Prince of Peace, the Sun of Righteousness, wars continue, innocent people are killed, and families suffer. Again and again we pray and ask our Lord to grace our leaders with wisdom and awareness, so that they silence wars and stop attacks, permitting humankind to enjoy the God-given goodness given to us and our brotherhood in peace. We seek this for the sake of peace on earth.

There is also the peace of Christ, which has a different quality and purpose. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives,” (John 14:27). This peace is the tranquility in our inner self, which suffers greatly by the presence of evil and from the effects of sin. There is no peace for the ungodly and wicked (Isaiah 48:22); only through Christ do we find true and complete peace. This kind of peace is given to us by the Holy Spirit, whose grace and strength plants peace in our souls. Peace is the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), which grows and is strengthened when we banish sin, when we condemn sin and we establish peace in and with Christ.

“That love and righteousness may be established on earth.”

Just as the world has its peace, it also has its righteousness. In the world the voice belongs to power, the military, armaments, and the economy, that speak for righteousness and in the name of righteousness. History is the witness to all of these types of events and quite often justice, despite being inalienable, is a victim of politics and profit. We too have often been innocent victims; we have even been victims to genocide and forced deportation from our homeland. Last October in Washington the sounds of righteousness soothed our sorrow and illuminated our hope. Our cause is just, it is genuine, and no evil can obstruct it. Peace and righteousness are inseparable, as the Apostle James says, “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace,” (James 3:18) because the Lord loves justice and hates injustice (Isaiah 61:8).

Humankind suffers, in indescribable proportion, because of the absence of worldly justice. The supplications of our prayers call for love and righteousness with the hope that humankind can live and establish this virtue in brotherhood with the “good will toward all,” which the Angels proclaimed at the time of Christ’s birth. Christian righteousness is established when people are at peace with themselves; when they bravely spread truth frustrations disappear, especially when they sympathize with their neighbors, they comfort the deprived, help the helpless, and support the rights of orphans. “Learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow” (Isaiah 1:17). Let us seek this type of righteousness so that we may harvest its fruit which is peace, so that we may enjoy its benefit which is peace of mind and soul, and safety in our lives (Isaiah 32:17).

Yes, let this type of righteousness and love take hold, where heavenly peace rules our souls and where Jesus will joyfully be born with His goodness and sweetness.

On the occasion of the Holy Nativity let us pray with the words of our holy church father, saying, “O Holy Mother Mary, Mother of God, intercede to the incarnated God born from you that wars may be silenced, that invasions by enemies may cease, that love and righteousness may be established on earth, we beseech you.”

May you have a blessed Nativity filled with the grace of our Lord.

ARCHBISHOP OSHAGAN
Prelate
Eastern United States of America

Nativity 2008