Nativity Fast – A Pilgrimage to Bethlehem! I A Call for us to prepare our hearts and homes for the Birth of Christ our Lord.
Once again, we have been greeted by the Season of the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This season is a call to for us to prepare our hearts and homes for the birth of Christ our Lord. This is also a time, the Holy Orthodox Church sets apart for the renewal of our spiritual devotion through prayer, fasting and alms giving. The birth of Christ is not just the mere birth of a baby, but God being united with man. The focus of the entire season is the birth of Jesus the Christ in His First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent.
Advent Season is a period of fasting and preparation. Advent is the time of the year when we look forward to the arrival of Jesus and is best understood as a period of preparation for the commemoration of Christ’s entry into our world as an event in salvation history.
The word Advent is from the Latin ‘Adventus,’ which means ‘coming’ or ‘arrival’; Parousia is a Greek word found in the ancient text of our Holy Scriptures which, represents an imminent return. Advent originally had its meaning, when the early Christians looked forward to the Second Coming of Jesus as promised. Many thought that it was going to happen during their lifetime. Later, this practice of ‘looking forward’ to the coming of Jesus Christ was combined with the ‘looking back’ to the first arrival (Incarnation) of Jesus Christ on Christmas Day. It has significance because it is a season of looking forward and waiting for something greater; both for the annual celebration of the event of Christ’s birth, and for the time when Christ will come again.
Birth of Christ is not a myth, not a tradition, not a dream. It is a glorious reality. It is an act of the endless love of God the Father, sending the Prince of Peace into our troubled world. In the history of mankind, there is no event greater and more joyful than the incarnation and coming of the Son of God into the world. The emphasis is on birth of Christ, the God’s eternal covenant, renewal and sanctification of humanity or rebirth of the faithful. We prepare for God’s coming among us. During the Advent, the faithful are asked: to prepare themselves worthily to celebrate the anniversary of the Lord’s coming into the world as the incarnate God of love, thus to make their souls fitting abodes for the Redeemer coming in Holy Communion and through grace, and thereby to make themselves ready for His final coming as judge, at our death and at the end of the world. It is a reminder that we were made for God. This fasting period is to embrace simplicity and humility; this period is to cleanse our hearts and prepare a room for the One Who cannot be contained.
May this feast through the fast, become a source of spiritual transformation, facilitating the birth of Christ in our broken lives, shattered homes and in the very hopelessness of a world choosing darkness over light and life.
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