Before the Nativity, let us cleanse of our sins and sow hope and faith

The twinkling lights, the life-affirming melodies, the enchanting Christmas towns nourish our expectations for the holiday, but we seem to forget the true occasion for this longed-for event - the birth of the only begotten son of God on this earth. During the four weeks before the Nativity of Christ, the Catholic community in Bulgaria prepares to observe the essence of the celebration through the Advent in anticipation of the One who is to come.

In the time before Christmas, Catholics participate more diligently in the sacraments of the Church. The first Sunday of Advent is dedicated to the Second Coming of the Lord and symbolizes hope. The second is for peace, and the third is called "The Sunday of Joy" because the holiday is already close to us. The fourth is "The Sunday of Love" and reminds of the events preceding the birth of Jesus and the special place of the Virgin Mary in the mystery of the Incarnation. Every Sunday, people light a candle from the Advent wreath and the light becomes brighter and brighter, piercing the darkness that will be defeated.

Father Ivelin Genov, a priest from the parish of "Sts. Peter and Paul" in the town of Hisarya, says that Advent prepares our heart, but also asks us: "Is there a place in it for God? Have we cleaned out the excess, the inessential, the chaos of our soul that suffocates us?"

"All these things flood us like waves, which can be the power that makes us do bad things to realise our ideas, all temptations and dangers,” he adds. “But in order for God to be born, we need to kill selfishness in us. Catholics prepare for the Nativity of Christ also through repentance, which is a change of mentality, of thinking, of the feeling of the heart. Advent is a time to shake off our bad habits and vices, which are called sin. It is also hope and faith that the humble Christ will return gloriously one day at his second coming to separate the chaff from the good seed."

The sermon that the parish priest will deliver on Christmas Eve will probably be inspired by Saint Luke the Evangelist.

"In his Gospel, the angels on the night of the Nativity of Christ exhort us not to be afraid to open the doors of our heart for God, because He will not take anything from us,” Father Ivelin says. “I will try to remind the faithful that a person is fully human only in Christ. I would also talk to them about joy, because today we live without God and we see many young people depressed, anxious, having panic attacks, on antidepressants. The world teaches us to trust only in ourselves and so we lose the perfect joy that comes to us precisely from the Christian faith, and in this way we immerse ourselves in our sadness, without meaning in our lives. And last but not least, I will try to talk to them about peace on earth between people of good will and together we will ask ourselves the question: ‘Do I have the good will to come down from the pedestal of my selfishness?’. The fact that to this day there are fratricidal wars means that we, Christians, have not yet understood that we have a common father."

In the days leading up to Christmas, the Catholic organization "Caritas" organizes many charitable initiatives. Sisters from various congregations provide the poorest, the most vulnerable, the homeless with hot food, but also with a word of hope. And in the parish of Father Ivelin after one of the liturgies people spontaneously decided to place a "generous basket" in the church and another one in the community center for products intended for those in need under the care of the Sisters of Mother Teresa in Plovdiv.

Making Christmas grottos is another tradition that Catholics follow. It dates back to the 17th century, when St. Francis of Assisi made the first of these in the Italian town of Greccio. "Today, perhaps the emphasis should shift to the spiritual and this places should be modest, placed in a corner, and not the central thing to contemplate. Let this be the mystery of the incarnation," the priest says.

The Christmas message Urbi et Orbi, will be delivered in St. Peter's Square for the first time by Pope Leo XIV. More than ever on this holy day, we need encouragement in our troubled and increasingly divided world.

"The first thing I would like to hear is ‘Do not be afraid!’ - like a parent who gives courage to his children that they are not alone in this world,” Father Ivelin Genov says. “The other thing that I sincerely hope the Pope will say and encourage us are words of peace, because it is not a utopia. There will always be unrest, but each of us needs to roll up our sleeves and work for peace, which begins from the heart of the individual person, from the ability to see in the other person not an enemy, but a brother."

The sick, the poor, the lonely, the refugees, all those who suffer yearn to hear words that will inspire them with hope for salvation. But how can they sow it in their hearts on Christmas?

"God sows in us the good, beautiful seed of hope and salvation,” the priest answers. “He saves us if we cooperate with him. Hope is a virtue, a gift and let us do what the poor and freezing shepherds did on the night of the Nativity of Christ - let us approach the manger together with all the weak, with all the suffering and let us pray to the newborn king with simplicity."

Father Ivelin Genov reminds us that God does not promise us to remove the trials we encounter on our way, but that he will always be with us. Let us get rid of fear and loneliness, carrying the hope in our hearts that we are not alone on this earth.

Photos: vaticannews.va/bg, Facebook/Vatican News - Bulgarian, YouTube/@RadioAveMariaBG, Facebook/ivelin.genov.18, vitania.caritas.bg, wikipedia.org