The Prince of Peace is Born

With the fulfilment of time, Christ the Prince of Peace was born.

He became man in order to communicate with us, to proclaim the importance of our immortal soul and to reconcile people amongst themselves and with God the Father.

Christ, the Leader and the Source of Peace, came to earth to free us from the bonds of sin and to grant us salvation. He visited us in the flesh, to bring peace on earth, His kind of peace, which is unshakeable and everlasting.

His Peace touches first our innermost being. His Peace is like that of fresh water that quenches our thirsty mind and soul, giving our lives meaning and satisfaction. This God-given grace comforts our souls and is so necessary for a harmonious coexistence with one another. Through the Peace of Jesus Christ, we are reborn and reconciled with those around us and are elevated spiritually. We experience the Divine Grace and so find salvation.

Jesus Christ's Peace is not like the peace that the world offers; documented on paper and torn by swords. True Peace is the greatest gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. It calms the mind and comforts our hearts. It pacifies the waves of our passions. It strengthens our love and rekindles our hope, in order that we can tolerate and forgive. It leads us to benevolence and prepares us to endure sacrifices.

Peace radiates from a soul filled with God's grace, to all people. It visits the family, the neighbourhood, the environment and even reaches our enemies. Finally, only the Lord's Peace works to eliminate injustice between people and is able to establish harmonious relations within our society.

On this very special day of Christmas, each and every one of us needs to ask himself the critical and soul-saving questions of: "How much do we know Christ and His kind of peace?" and "How strong is our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?". We should examine whether we have a clear mind and a pure heart, which will allow us to gather the invaluable fruit offered by the Lord through His True Peace. Christ and Peace are inseparable, just like the body and the soul and like the sun and its light. People often try to separate Christ from Peace. They deny Christ, yet they seek peace. This is like uprooting a tree and expecting it to bear fruit. How foolish this is! Often we think that secular wisdom, riches, science, technology and all the materialistic efforts that we as humans make, will bring us true peace.

There is only one sure way to find ourselves in God. We were shown the way by the star of Bethlehem. This was the path taken by the three wise men that ended at the Manger in Bethlehem, before the feet of the Holy Infant, the Prince of Peace. Any other path leads us to a life filled with frustration and desperation, ending ultimately, in the loss of our most precious possession, our soul.

This particular Christmas let us approach the Holy Festival with reverence, a firm resolve to repent and one filled with Christian deeds inspired by God's Love and Peace. Let it be our fervent wish, that we celebrate Christmas in this way and that it be a new beginning for each and every one of us.

May the Heavenly gift of Peace, brought to the world by the Birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, protect our minds, our hearts, our families and the world as a whole. May you all have a holy and blessed Christmas

By the late Father Nicholas Moutafis 1931-2001