Thursday, December 25, 2014

Christmas Joy

This Christmas Day, here is a voice from the past: an excerpt from a Christmas sermon written more than 1500 years ago! I find it fascinating that the Christian faith has changed so little - when so many ideas have come and gone:

Beloved brothers and sisters: Unto us is born this day a Savior. Let us rejoice. It would be unlawful to be sad today, for today is Life's birthday, the birthday of that Life which, for us mortal creatures, takes away the sting of death and brings the bright promise of an eternal hereafter... the great reason why we are all joyful,... our Lord, who is the destroyer of sin and death, ... is come to make all free.

From a sermon of St. Leo the Great, quoted in Benedictine Daily Prayer, A Short Breviary, p. 63)

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