The Gospel reading for the Sunday before Christmas is taken from the beginning of Saint Matthew’s Gospel. It describes first the genealogy of Christ according to the flesh and then God’s dispensation regarding His birth from the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. Let’s turn our attention to the significance of this event for each one of us. Every year, in an atmosphere of joy and exultation, the Church celebrates the Birth of Christ and sings beautiful hymns to the incarnate God Who remakes our corrupted human nature. Orthodox hymnography and theology acclaim the enormous importance of the divine incarnation for humankind: from hopeless decay and the chaos of destructive hatred, we are saved by the love of God, Who took ...
