Day 40 · The Nativity Fast
The Word Became Flesh
“The Word became flesh and lived amongst us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the only born Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”John 1:14
Reflection
This is the last day of the Fast, the Eve of the Nativity. Hapgood's Service Book notes that the Eve is kept with a specially strict abstinence, and the services of the day, the Royal Hours and Vespers, usually joined to the Divine Liturgy of St Basil, are full of the prophecies we have read these forty days. Soon the Church will sing that the Word became flesh and lived among us. The Fast was never the point; the Child is. Go to him with whatever you have managed to keep, and with whatever you have failed to keep. He has come for both. Today's prayer is the troparion of the Nativity, from Isabel Hapgood's Service Book (1906), lightly modernized.
A prayer
Your Nativity, O Christ our God, has arisen upon the world as the light of wisdom. For at it, those who worshipped the stars were, by a star, taught to adore you, the Sun of Righteousness, and to know you, the Orient from on high. O Lord, glory to you. Christ is born! Glorify him! Amen.
Carry this with you
Christ is born! Glorify him! Whom will you greet with these words tomorrow?