Instruction for the Third Day of the Nativity of Christ, a Sunday

Today we have two feasts: to the feast of the Nativity of Christ is joined the feast of the resurrection of Christ; one feast is annual, the other weekly. In both feasts, beloved brothers, our own Christian triumph lies hidden. Jesus Christ was born, and He rose, for us: He was born in order to die for us and to rise; such is the love of God our Savior for us—He gave the whole of Himself to us, only that He might make us eternally blessed, only that He might bring us into the dwellings of the heavenly Father. The life of our Lord Jesus Christ—from His birth to His sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven—is, so to speak, a mirror in which is reflected everything that happens and will happen to His followers; or, put another way, His whole earthly life is a pattern for our own life, of what it ought to be. Therefore His birth is, as it were, our own birth—and indeed, it is only for our sake—and His resurrection is our resurrection. Through the birth and resurrection of the Savior, we are all, beloved, called to eternal life, to an incorruptible inheritance, kept in heaven for our sake. Without the Savior, without His birth, our own birth would be only a curse, so that our own resurrection, without Him, would become a sentence to eternal torment. By His birth Jesus Christ sanctified our birth, He raised up our horn; by His resurrection He gladdened us with the hope of our own resurrection. Christ is risen from the dead, the firstfruits of them that slept (1Cor 15:20)—that is, He laid the foundation for our own resurrection. Behold our triumph in the birth and resurrection of Christ! But why do we celebrate the feast of the Nativity of Christ only once a year, while we celebrate the feast of the resurrection many times, and one of these—the annual feast—with such brightness, with such solemnity, that its light seems to outshine every other feast? To resolve this question, let us take up another for the sake of explanation. Is it necessary to assure a man several times that he was born? It is not necessary, because everyone believes this without any need of assurance. But is it necessary to assure a man many times that he will rise again? It is altogether necessary, because, since the resurrection still lies ahead and is for us only a matter of hope, we need more often to revive, to reanimate our fading faith in the resurrection and our hope in it—all the more so the fewer examples of resurrection we see before our eyes, whereas examples of birth are always before our eyes. To this reason must be added another: that a year represents a human lifetime, and since the Son of God, Jesus Christ, having also become the Son of Man, though timeless, submitted Himself to the measure of earthly years, we remember once a year all the great events of the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, just as they occurred, in actual fact, only once—and this single remembrance suffices to revive our faith in them—while the resurrection of Christ, besides its all-radiant annual celebration, is celebrated many more times throughout the year, in order to revive more often in people faith in the general resurrection, which is the great triumph of our faith, because the resurrection of Christ is our own resurrection: you have risen with Christ, says the apostle (Col 3:1)—that is, you have, as it were, risen together with Christ.

And so, glory to the Lord who was born for our salvation, and glory to Him who rose from the tomb and raised us together with Himself.

What, then, shall I say to you in conclusion? Remember, all of you, with every Sunday that comes, that you will rise again, and, having risen, will appear at judgment; and therefore let each one take care to order his life so that at that dread tribunal he may not be put to shame and cast away into the outer darkness, and so that the feasts of the Nativity and the Resurrection of Christ may not condemn us, in that age, for our carelessness and disrespect toward their message. Amen.