Elder Symeon Kragiopoulos: How to Prepare for Christmas

The Nativity of Christ (source)

  

God the Father gives us His Son for a gift. What shall we offer to God? We think we do something important. We do nothing important. Everything is of God. However, God hasn’t given you sin. You, the man, commit sins. That’s the only thing we have, then: our sins. And still, that’s what God asks of us. God asks of us to give Him our sins, in order for Him to forgive them. You should repent these days and say: “My God, take all the burdens off my soul, take them away from me: my thoughts, my emotions, my experiences, my actions, everything. Take, my God, away all things sinful, in order to forgive them”. This is the way to prepare for Christmas.

-Elder Symeon Kragiopoulos (+2015)

 

(source)

 

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us! Amen!