The High Kinship

An Instruction on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers

The book of the ancestry of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Mt 1:1)

In today’s Gospel the genealogy of our Lord Jesus Christ according to His humanity was read. A wondrous miracle, a wondrous providence of God’s goodness toward the fallen human race! The only-begotten Son of the heavenly Father—almighty, co-eternal with the Beginningless One, the Creator of the world, the Source of light and of wisdom, good in Himself, infinite—enters into kinship with the human race; the Son of God becomes the Son of man, the Brother of men—the Brother, to speak more closely, of you and of me. O goodness, O bounty, O condescension beyond measure! O voluntary impoverishment! What fruits come from such kinship of the Son of God with us—for us, what does such a high and most noble kinship of ours with God require of us, what qualities, what deeds? Of this we shall speak today.

We, my brethren, are called Christians, that is, children of Christ, members of His most holy Body, as the apostle says: we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones[1], members of His Church. Do you not see that through His incarnation we have been received into the very closest kinship with the Son of God? But if even in this world those well-born, or noble by blood, want to have noble relatives as well, and do not wish their relatives to disgrace that nobility by any immoral conduct—although it is only outward, temporary, of this world—then tell me: what nobility of thoughts, feelings, desires, intentions, of words, of deeds does the only-begotten Son of God, who is in the bosom of the Father[2], the perfect Partaker of the Father’s holiness, infinite holiness itself, require of us? Yes, brethren, our kinship with the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, requires of us great nobility, upright conduct in life; and I will not be saying anything superfluous if I say that Christians must live on earth like angels in the flesh—and this is why virginity has such high significance in the Christian world. But purity and chastity are not the only virtue that our kinship with the Son of God requires of us.

What is required of us is simple-heartedness: if your eye, that is, the eye of the heart, is simple, your whole body will be bright[3], that is, your whole life; what is required is goodness of heart, humility, and guilelessness, as the Savior said: learn from Me, for I am meek and humble in heart[4]; what is required is mercy toward one’s neighbors, as He also said: be merciful, just as your heavenly Father is merciful[5]; what is required is abstinence: take heed to yourselves, – says Jesus Christ, – lest your hearts ever be burdened with gluttony and drunkenness[6]; what is required is indifference to earthly goods, to food, drink, clothing, and the glory of this world: do not be anxious for your soul, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor for your body, what you will be clothed in:for the soul is more than food, and the body than clothing;seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you[7]; what is required is patience: in your patience win your souls[8]; obedience, submission of Christians to the Church, for the Lord said: tell about the one who has sinned to the Church – but if even the Church does not listen, let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector[9].

Do you see what qualities our kinship with the Son of God, Who was incarnate for our sake, requires of us! Let us treasure our kinship with Christ, and let us count nothing in the world dearer than this kinship– neither ranks and worldly distinctions, nor worldly nobility, nor wealth, nothing at all; for everything in the world passes away, everything is transitory, and, above all, all is vanity; if a man who possesses the goods of the world – nobility of birth, a high rank, or wealth, or a secular education – does not have faith in Christ and does not follow the Gospel of Christ, the Gospel of the kingdom of God, the kingdom eternal, holy, blessed, then he will not correspond to his Christian calling. Let us take care to acquire holiness, as the Lord said: be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy[10], or, as the apostle says: have peace and holiness with all men, without which, that is, without which, no one will see the Lord[11]. Let us acquire, with the help of the grace of Jesus Christ, singleness of heart and that quiet disposition of the soul which is called meekness, which does not allow us to be angry with anyone, to be irritated by anything, or to grow embittered; let us acquire humility, which always abases itself and exalts others, sincerely calls itself the first of sinners, and even if conscience did not reproach it with any sinful act whatsoever, it would still not on that account justify itself: for I have nothing in myself (nothing against myself) that I am aware of (I know): and I am not on that account justified[12]; let us acquire mercy toward the poor, who are the brothers not only of us but of Jesus Christ; let us not be ashamed to call brothers and sisters those whom Christ, the Son of God, is not ashamed to call His brothers[13]; let us cast off our vain and false grandeur, which debases the nobility of our soul and which the devil teaches us, and let us offer a helping hand to those whom the goodness of God, equally with us, has made partakers of His grace and of all the gifts of Christianity, and to whom the kingdom of heaven has been assigned even in preference to the rich: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?[14]; Wealth puffs up, fattens and hardens the heart and estranges it from God – because the rich man’s heart is attached to his wealth and not to God; while poverty endured for the sake of God humbles and softens the heart, often pouring forth tears of repentance at the thought that we are rich in sins and terribly poor in God, in His grace, which cannot dwell in a body and a heart that partakes of sin and clings to the goods of the earth.

Let us acquire constant self-restraint, especially during the fasts established by the Church. Holy Church has appointed a forty-day fast to prepare us for the worthy celebration of the Nativity of Jesus Christ; and this fast must be kept as strictly as the Great Fast. If anyone has not practiced restraint until now, let him from this time forward, at least during the remaining week, bridle his belly for the sake of the salvation of his soul; for gluttony makes the soul, so to speak, earthbound, renders it very susceptible to various passions and incapable of holy meditation on God, on His dispensation of our salvation, on the Mystery of the coming of the Son of God to earth, on our final goal on earth, on the necessity of virtue, on the resurrection of the flesh, on the eternal judgment, on eternal blessedness, and so on. Fasting, together with prayer, on the other hand, cleanses, enlightens, humbles, and strengthens the soul.

May God grant that all of us meet the approaching feast of the Nativity of Christ worthily, in peace and with heavenly joy. — One more word: in order to honor as we ought the feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ, who for our sake was made poor, that we might be made rich by His poverty[15] — let each of us, according to his ability, show mercy to the poor before the feast: let one give a poor man money for shoes, another for a coarse garment, another let him pay for lodging, another let him give money for bread. When we see the poverty of our neighbors, let us consider that we ourselves are far poorer in soul[16]; for which of us does not recognize in himself at times pride, and malice, and envy, and ill will, and stinginess, and love of money with covetousness, or greediness and gluttony—and some even fleshly impurity and foul fornication? You see, my brethren, that we have within ourselves a poverty more terrible and shameful than the poverty of those who are poor in body. Who knows—perhaps the soul of a poor man is at times higher than all of us in the eyes of God and, like gold in a crucible, shines before Him. This is hidden from us. Let us despise none of them, even when their appearance is at times unseemly. Let us leave judgment to God, and let us ourselves condemn ourselves for our various passions and attachments, for excess in food, drink, clothing, the furnishing of our rooms, and so on. That will be far more profitable. Let us not forget also these words of Jesus Christ: many will be last who were first, and the last first[17]. Let these words humble our pride and lead each of us to take care to acquire poverty of spirit, that is, humility; for blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven[18]. Amen.