Gospel about the healing of ten lepers. Group Bible Reading and Study

December 22nd in the church calendar of this year falls on the 24th week (Sunday) after Trinity Day. The current Gospel reading tells us about God's mercy towards those rejected by society, forgotten by all people, as well as about human gratitude.

During the service in the church, Father Deacon solemnly read the following passage from the Gospel narrative (Luke 17: 12–19):

“And when He entered a certain village, ten lepers met Him, who stopped at a distance and said in a loud voice: Jesus the Mentor! have mercy on us.
When He saw [them], He said to them: Go, show yourself to the priests. And as they walked, they purified themselves.
One of them, seeing that he was healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell prostrate at His feet, thanking Him; and it was a Samaritan.
Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed?” where is nine?
How did they not return to give glory to God except this foreigner?
And he said to him: get up, go; your faith has saved you.”

Leprosy was at one time considered a death sentence for a sick person. He was doomed to wandering, humiliation, hunger, loneliness and pain.

Saint Theophylact of Bulgaria explains the first verses of the Gospel about the 10 lepers:

“The lepers met Him outside the city, for they, since they were considered unclean, were not allowed to live inside the city.

They stopped “far away,” as if ashamed of their imaginary uncleanness and not daring to come closer in the thought that Jesus also abhors them, as others did, raising their voices and asking for mercy.

According to their location, they stood far away, but through prayer they stood close. For the Lord is close to all who call on Him in truth.

They ask for mercy not as from a simple person, but as from one who is higher than man. For they call Jesus Mentor, that is, Master, Trustee, Overseer, which is very close to calling him God, He (Jesus) commands them (the lepers) to show themselves to the priests

For the priests examined such, and from them they made a decision whether they were clean from leprosy or not.

The priests had signs by which they noted incurable leprosy. And even then, when someone fell ill with leprosy and then recovered, the priests examined it, and they were given a gift, as prescribed in the Law.

Here, when the lepers were indisputably such, what need was there for them to appear to the priests if they did not have to be completely cleansed?

The command for them to go to the priests indicated nothing more than that they would become clean. That’s why it is said that as they walked along the road they purified themselves.”

10 were cleansed, but only one returned to give glory to God, and that was a foreigner, whom the Jews considered a less worthy person.

But in his heart he turned out to be more worthy than others, because he was a grateful person.

Is gratitude so important in the lives of each of us? Or is it insignificant? There is less and less of it in our lives every year.

Saint Nicholas of Serbia teaches us that God in itself does not need our gratitude, it is important for us and benefits us:

“Why does a father demand that his son bow to him, take off his hat, and thank him for every big and small thing received from his parents? What does father need this for?

Does filial gratitude make him richer, stronger, more respected, more influential in society? No, not at all.

But if he personally has nothing from filial gratitude, isn’t it funny that he constantly teaches it to his child and teaches him to be grateful, and not only a pious parent, but even an unpious one?

No, it's not funny at all; it's noble. For this shows the most selfless parental love, which forces parents to teach their child gratitude.

For what? So that the child feels good.

So that he would feel good in this temporary life among people, among friends and enemies, in villages and cities, in power and in trade. For everywhere a grateful person is valued, loved, invited, helped and welcomed.

Whoever teaches you to be grateful will teach you to be merciful. And a merciful person walks more freely on this earth...

So why does God require gratitude from people? And why do people pay him with gratitude?

Out of His infinite love for people, God requires that people thank Him.

Human gratitude will not make God greater, more powerful, more glorious, richer, or more alive; but it will make the people themselves greater, more powerful, more glorious, richer and more alive.

Human gratitude will add nothing to the peace and bliss of God, but it will add peace and bliss to people themselves.”

Therefore, the Gospel reading about the 10 lepers teaches us a useful skill in the life of every person - the ability to thank God and people. Because it is easier for a grateful person to live on earth.

Moreover, this bright feeling opens the way to Heaven - the path to eternal life

get acquainted with the story of Jesus Christ healing 10 lepers

Tasks:

find out the circumstances of the healing
understand the need and importance of gratitude
get acquainted with the symbolic interpretation of the history of this healing

References:

The Law of God: In 5 books. – M.: Knigovek, 2010. – T.3. Chapter “Gratitude. Healing of ten lepers."
Serebryakova Yu.V., Nikulina E.V., Serebryakov N.S. Fundamentals of Orthodoxy: Textbook. – M.: PSTGU Publishing House, 2009. Chapter “Healing of ten lepers.”

Additional literature:

Averky (Taushev), archbishop. Four Gospels. Apostle. A Guide to Studying the Holy Scriptures of the New Testament. – M.: PSTGU Publishing House, 2005. Chapter 48 “Healing of ten lepers.”
Job (Gumerov), hierome, Gumerov P., priest, Gumerov A., priest. God's Law. – M.: Sretensky Monastery Publishing House, 2014. Chapter “Healing of ten lepers.”

Key concepts:

Leper
Healing

Lesson vocabulary:

Leprosy
Samaritan
Gratitude

Lesson content: (open)

Illustrations:

Test questions:

During the classes. Option 1:

Teacher's retelling of relevant Gospel passages.

Explanation by the teacher of unclear expressions or circumstances.

Summarize the topic of the miracles performed by Jesus Christ using a presentation.

Reinforce the topic using test questions.

During the classes. Option 2:

Collective reading aloud by children of relevant passages from the Gospel.

Discussion of what you read.

Moral conclusions.

Recording keywords in a notebook.

Reinforcing a topic by solving a crossword puzzle.

Video materials:

TV project “Reading the Gospel with the Church.” December 21, 2014:

TV project “Workshop of Good Deeds”. "Healing Lepers":

(Luke 17:11-19)

1) History of the healing of lepers

The Lord performed this miracle during His last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem on Easter. On the way between Samaria and Galilee, when He entered a certain village, ten lepers met Him.

Since ancient times, leprosy has been considered an unclean and contagious disease. How infection occurs is unknown, but once it begins, the disease continues for 5-20 years and leads to death. Leprosy causes deep lesions of the skin of the entire body, covered with purulent and bleeding gray ulcers. The disease then affects the internal organs and bones. Vision, hearing, voice weaken, the nose is destroyed, all the hair falls out; finally, the fingers and toes die off. The patient dies from general exhaustion and heart paralysis. In ancient times, lepers did not enjoy any help from society; they were expelled from cities and populated areas, wandered through deserted places, ate whatever they could find, and were required to shout out warnings of their approach.

They stopped in the distance and shouted in a loud voice: “ Jesus Mentor! have mercy on us!"(Luke 17:13) They did not dare to approach, since their disease was contagious, and they were forbidden to communicate with people. They could not live in cities and wandered in secluded places. Hungry, half-dressed, covered with terrible sores, the lepers eked out a miserable existence. But they knew that Christ heals the sick, and therefore they expected help from Him. Seeing them, the Lord said to them: “ Go show yourself to the priests"(Luke 17:14). The custom was that if lepers recovered, the priests had to certify their recovery and allow them to communicate with people after making a sacrifice. That is, Christ’s command meant that He, with His miraculous power, healed them from illness. Believing the words of Christ, the lepers went for an examination. Their obedience to the word of the Lord - to go to be examined by the priests - indicates their living faith. During the journey, to their great surprise, they saw that their ulcers were healing, the scabs were falling off, and their whole body was becoming clean and healthy. Having received healing, they, however, as often happens, forgot about the Author of their joy, and only one of them, a foreigner Samaritan, returned to the Lord to thank Him for the healing. Having fallen at the feet of Christ, he began to joyfully praise God. The Lord asked with sorrow and meek reproach: “ Were not ten cleansed? Where is nine? How did they not return to give glory to God except this foreigner?"(Luke 17:17-18) This incident shows that although the Jews despised the Samaritans, the latter sometimes turned out to be superior to them.

2) Moral meaning

Out of ten, only one felt a feeling of gratitude in his soul. The remaining nine are a living example of human ingratitude to the Benefactor God. People are more inclined to ask than to thank, and yet gratitude is the most sublime, noble and holy property of a believing soul. Without a feeling of gratitude to God for everything that He sends us, the salvation of the soul is impossible. The bodies of the nine lepers became healthy, but their souls remained deaf to the truth of God. And only one, the Samaritan, received true and complete healing. Christ told him: “ Get up, go; your faith saved you"(Luke 17:19). This story shows that faith is incompatible with ingratitude towards God.

3) Symbolic meaning

At the same time, the miracle of healing of lepers, performed shortly before the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross, symbolically depicts the history of the salvation of people by God. The ten lepers represent the entire human nature, leprous with malice, bearing the ugliness of sin, living outside the city of heaven because of uncleanness, and standing far from God. God, by mercy, healed the leprous nature by becoming incarnate and tasting death for every person. But the Jews turned out to be ungrateful and did not give glory to God, refusing to believe that Jesus Christ is the true God and Savior of the world. The pagans, on the contrary, recognized God who had purified them and, believing, received forgiveness of sins.

Test questions:

Why did lepers live outside the city?
What did Jesus Christ's command to the lepers to “show themselves to the priests” mean?
What did Jesus Christ say to the returning Samaritan and why?
Why did the Jews not return to thank Christ?
Is faith possible without gratitude to God?
Do you always manage to be grateful?
What symbolic meaning can be found in this story?

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit!

Brothers and sisters! Today you heard the Gospel story about the healing of ten lepers by Jesus Christ (Luke 17:12-19).

Leprosy is a disease that is predominantly found in southern countries. A person develops spots on his face and body, his body loses sensitivity, rots, and his face swells. The person's hair and teeth fall out, and foul-smelling saliva constantly oozes from the mouth. The flesh falls away, revealing bones. Sometimes a person's eyes bleed out, he becomes blind, his fingers die, and he cannot even bring food to his mouth. The leper turns into a living corpse. Previously, lepers were expelled from cities and villages. They lived in the forest, in dugouts, and occasionally food was placed in a designated place. Driven by hunger, they wandered around big cities so that people would take pity and throw them something to eat. They were driven like wild animals. The relatives mourned the leper more than the dead man.

When a leper died somewhere in the forest or along the road, even birds of prey did not peck at his corpse, infected with a deadly poison, and the animals avoided him. Other lepers had to bury the body or burn it.

After the so-called Crusades, this disease entered Europe and caused great horror there. Lepers were required to wear a shroud-white hood over their face with slits only for the eyes, so as not to frighten people with their appearance. Others had a bell hanging on them, and its ominous ringing warned people to move out of the way. Meanwhile, brothers and sisters, lepers forgot who they were: Jews, Samaritans, Arabs or Greeks. Expelled by their fellow tribesmen, they became, as it were, one people. With their laws, welded together by one misfortune, lepers often experienced strong affection and the most tender love for each other. Their hearts, having lost everything earthly, seemed to open to true friendship. They shared the last piece of bread with each other, ate from the same dish, and warmed themselves by the same fire. Misfortune equalized them, just as the common grave equalized the dead.

When our Lord Jesus Christ, going to Jerusalem, entered a certain village, He was met by ten lepers. They began to call on the Lord, asking Him for mercy: Jesus Mentor! have mercy on us(Luke 17:13) - that is, heal us!

Human help was powerless, these unfortunates were doomed to a painful death, their condition was worse than slaves who work in quarries and mines, or criminals imprisoned in dungeons for the rest of their lives. It was as if there was no return to life for them, but these lepers apparently heard about Jesus, the Great Prophet and Wonderworker, and therefore shouted: Jesus Mentor! have mercy on us.

Leprosy eats away the throat and lips, and therefore, instead of screaming, only a hoarse whisper came from their lips: Jesus Mentor! have mercy on us.

The Lord stopped and said: go show yourself to the priests(Luke 17:14). They believed that they would be healed and headed along the road to Jerusalem, to the temple, where the priests were to witness their healing. And while still on the way, they felt the power of God’s grace, which poured into them and healed them.

A child does not know the hour of his birth, and these unfortunates seem to have experienced their second birth. Their terrible wounds have healed. The scale-like skin had fallen off; a new one appeared - clean and white, like a child’s, and now they clearly imagined how they were returning to their families, how they greeted them with tears of joy, how they hugged their children, sat with friends and talked about a great miracle. They already saw before their eyes the lights of their father’s house and the walls of Jerusalem; They forgot only one thing: the One who healed them!

Healed by the mercy of God, they forgot about God Himself and moved away from Christ every minute. Nine of them were Jews, one was a Samaritan. The Jews already knew from childhood that the Savior was coming to earth: they were taught about this in synagogues, they heard sermons about this in temples. The miracle had to convince them with their own eyes that the Savior of the world was before them. However, they continued to go their own way. Those who called themselves children of Abraham did not desire God, but the gifts of God, not the Heavenly Father, but His inheritance.

Only one Samaritan returned, fell at the feet of Jesus, thanking and praising God, glorifying Him as the Messiah. The Lord said: were not ten purified? where is nine? how did they not return to give glory to God, except this foreigner?(Luke 17, 17–18). This question was intended for His disciples, the apostles, so that they, being Jews themselves, would understand that the Savior of the world had come for all people, for all peoples, for all nations. Now these nations of the world were represented by one Samaritan who lay at the feet of Christ.

The Lord said to him: get up, go; your faith saved you(Luke 17:19). What kind of faith? Other lepers also believed that they would be healed: in misfortune they believed, and in prosperity they forgot God, as often happens with us.

Saint Isaac the Syrian says: “I know people who have remained firm in adversity, but I don’t know anyone who has not changed in happiness and prosperity.”

Brothers and sisters! The Samaritan's faith in Christ as the Messiah and Savior of the world is the faith that He who healed his body can heal his soul; He who brought him back again to his people can open the gates of heaven for him; He who granted him cleansing from leprosy grants him both forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

This is the so-called literal historical meaning of this story, but there is also another – a moral meaning. We must constantly thank God for everything. Some of us will say, “Why should I thank God?” Thank God that He created us, created heaven and earth, created us as people, the only creatures on earth adorned with the image and likeness of God. Give thanks that the Lord has given you faith; give thanks that you belong to the Orthodox Church; thank you for the fact that the Lord did not leave you to perish in your sins, but the Son of God descended to earth and was crucified for you; that the Lord forgives you your sins and feeds you with His Body and Blood; that the Lord fulfills your prayers; that how many of your peers are already lying in the grave, but you live, and your every day can be the day of your salvation.

There is also a mystical meaning. The lepers shouted: Jesus the Mentor! help us. Their hope in man had long since dried up, but their hope in God had not disappeared.

And we, too, are lepers of sins for the angels. Our souls in the eyes of the Angels are as terrible and disgusting as the bodies of lepers. But we know our Savior and therefore we must constantly say in our hearts: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner, heal me, save me!”

Brothers and sisters! We would like to pray from a pure heart, but our heart exudes pus, like the stinking lips of lepers. But the Lord heard their whispers. He also hears the secret voice of our heart!

There is also an ecclesiological meaning here. The Lord says: Go show yourself to the priests. The Lord gave the Church great sacraments that can cleanse, revive spiritually, and revive a person. These are the Sacraments of Anointing, Repentance and Communion.

This Gospel story also has a symbolic meaning: lepers are humanity after the Fall, people rejected from their older brothers - the angels, people doomed to death and hell. But the Lord crucified himself on the cross to heal humanity, and the majority, like the nine lepers, show indifference and coldness to the Savior’s Calvary sacrifice.

Brothers and sisters! We must thank God for everything, thank even for the trials and suffering that He sends us.

One ascetic said: “He is insincere in love who does not thank God in sorrow, as well as in joy.” And another replied: “He is insincere who does not accept sorrow as joy and blows as blessing.”

Favorite prayer of St. John Chrysostom had the words: “Glory to God for everything!”

Brothers and sisters! A proud heart cannot thank God, a proud heart is always embittered, it is always in confusion, it is always dissatisfied. Sometimes it is enough for a proud person to hear some word, even an unfriendly look, for his heart to be filled with hatred. The heart of a proud person does not know spiritual joy - the highest happiness. Only the humble are revealed to the mysteries of God and the mysteries of Divine love; only the humble can thank God for everything.

Amen.

Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin)

Source: Archimandrite Raphael (Karelin). The path of a Christian. Sermons. – http://lib.eparhia-saratov.ru/books/16r/rafail/christianway/35.html

You can better understand the Gospel at Sunday Liturgy if you understand it in advance. On December 23, the story of ten lepers healed by Christ will be read in churches. Only one of them returned to thank the Savior. The same words are read at the thanksgiving service.

Christ's healing of ten lepers. Engraving for Piscator's Bible

Gospel of Luke (7-11:19):
“As He went to Jerusalem, He passed between Samaria and Galilee. And when He entered a certain village, ten lepers met Him, who stopped at a distance and said in a loud voice: Jesus Mentor! have mercy on us. When He saw them, He said to them: Go, show yourself to the priests. And as they walked, they purified themselves. One of them, seeing that he was healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice, and fell prostrate at His feet, thanking Him; and it was a Samaritan. Then Jesus said, “Were not ten cleansed?” where is nine? how did they not return to give glory to God, except this foreigner? And he said to him: get up, go; your faith has saved you."

Archpriest Georgy KLIMOV, rector of the Church of the Life-Giving Trinity at Pyatnitskoye Cemetery (Moscow)

Today's Gospel reading is supposed to be read at a service dedicated to thanksgiving, when we, wanting to thank God for something, order a thanksgiving prayer service. The most important service of the Orthodox Church, the Eucharist, is also translated as thanksgiving. Why is our gratitude so important to God? And how is it related to faith?

The Gospel tells us about ten lepers, and for some reason it is emphasized that nine of them were Jews (orthodox, in our language), and one was a Samaritan (not having true faith). Usually Jews did not communicate with Samaritans and despised them, but here a common misfortune united them together, as happens in life. They met the Lord together and together they said: Jesus, Master, have mercy on us! Christ does not give a direct answer, as in other cases of healing, does not ask whether they believe and how they believe, but sends them to show themselves to the priests. Again they all walk together and on the way they realize that they are healed. A miracle happened. And here a division occurs: nine Jews move on, and only the Samaritan suddenly returns and praises God. Why did he return, since Christ Himself sent him to show himself to the priests? What happened to him? And what didn’t happen to the nine devout Jews?

The Jews, even the lepers, considered themselves “right” people. Having heard the command from the Lord to show themselves to the priests, they obediently went. They were probably no less happy about the healing than the Samaritan. But by doing what the Lord said, they completely sincerely decided that they had done everything they needed to do. Brought up in the tradition of the law, they were confident that only its exact fulfillment was sufficient for salvation. Accordingly, by doing the works of the law, good deeds, doing fasts and prayers, they have the right to count that God, in response to this, not only can save them, He is obliged to save them! Nine lepers suffered, endured illness, exile, harsh life, they prayed, maybe even promised something to God for their healing, and then God came and healed them. The law has been fulfilled, they are even with God. They don't owe God anything anymore.
Today's Gospel shows why such an Old Testament calculation is terrible for every believer: from these relationships it is impossible to come to love, and without love for God, without accepting His love, it is impossible for us to be saved. Christ came into the world as Love, which is above the law, but it was merciful love that the Jewish world did not accept. There is no place in it for gratitude, through which love is manifested.

In relationships of calculation, we put ourselves on the same level with the Lord, we believe that we have the right to “bargain” with Him, we hope to “pay off” with “deeds.” But we are saved not by works, but by the love and mercy of God. Our very “good deeds”, good movements in the heart do not happen without His mercy, grace, which softens our hearts. But in a relationship of calculation, it is impossible to accept God’s mercy, because mercy can only be answered with love. Gratitude as a manifestation of love is the only thing that we ourselves can give to the Lord, the Almighty and All-Sufficient. Faith and gratitude are also the only “deeds” that can be saving for us, because faith together with gratitude is love.

And it turned out that only the Samaritan understood this. He was not a “follower of rules”; he did not consider that he had deeds and merits, because sometimes illness and suffering can be considered “merit” before God; his suffering, and then the joy of healing, did not alienate him from God, as often happens in life, when God is no longer needed, since everything is good. And therefore his heart was able to perceive the healing as a gift, as the mercy of God, not to be embarrassed by it, but to rejoice, to run back, not even reaching the priests, to fall before God from the joy of meeting Him.

And this meeting with God is another important point in the conversation about gratitude. It would seem that they had already met when the Samaritan was still a leper. How the nine Jews also met the Lord. Everyone believed that the Lord would help them. And everyone received healing. But only to the Samaritan who returned and thanked Him did the Lord say: “Your faith has saved you.” Saved me from leprosy? But nine others were also healed by it. According to the interpretation of St. Ephraim the Syrian, the Lord speaks of salvation for Eternal Life, that is, of healing from spiritual leprosy, which falls off like scales, and a person, gaining sight, becomes capable of perceiving the higher world. The miracle of healing, in which the Samaritan participates with his faith and thanksgiving, opens spiritual life to him, and therefore he really meets the Lord, his Savior. And if faith does not give rise to gratitude, it is either weak or incorrect, like the faith of the nine lepers. Such faith does not lead to God.

And therefore, reading this passage of the Gospel text, we can ask ourselves: are we really believers? If we do not have a feeling of gratitude to God, our faith is dead and we are still in the group of these nine lepers who forgot about God as soon as they received what they asked for.

You can't force gratitude. But if we look carefully at our lives, we will see a lot in it for which we can thank the Lord. And when we give thanks, our heart changes. I become more merciful, clear-sighted, and begin to see sin as something that causes me spiritual leprosy. From a state of gratitude, a person begins to look at his neighbors as suffering from this spiritual leprosy, begins to pity them, and not condemn them.

Archbishop Averky (Taushev). Four Gospels. Conversation about 10 lepers:

The Lord performed this miracle during His last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem on the last holiday of Easter, when He was crucified. The lepers, a whole group of 10 people, “stayed at a distance,” because the law forbade them to approach healthy people, and with a loud voice begged the Lord to have mercy on them. The Lord commanded them to go and show themselves to the priests. This meant that He, with His miraculous power, heals from illness, for He sends them to the priests so that, according to the requirement of the law, they testify to the healing of leprosy, and a sacrifice is made and permission is given to live in society. The submission of lepers to the word of the Lord - to go to be examined by the priests - indicates their living faith. And they really noticed along the way that the disease had left them. Having received healing, they, however, as often happens, forgot about the Author of their joy, and only one of them, the Samaritan, returned to the Lord to thank Him for the healing. This incident shows that although the Jews despised the Samaritans, the latter sometimes turned out to be superior to them. The Lord asked with sorrow and meek reproach: “Were not ten cleansed? where is nine? How did they not return to give glory to God, except for this foreigner?” These nine are a living example of human ingratitude to the Beneficent God.

Having received healing, they, however, as often happens, forgot about the Author of their joy, and only one of them, the Samaritan, returned to the Lord to thank Him for the healing. This incident shows that although the Jews despised the Samaritans, the latter sometimes turned out to be superior to them. The Lord asked with sorrow and meek reproach: “Were not ten cleansed? where is nine? How did they not return to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” These nine are a living example of human ingratitude to the Beneficent God.

Sermon by Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

How much joy and how much living gratitude there was around Christ! When we read the Gospel, we see on every page, in every line, how God’s affection, God’s love, God’s mercy are poured out on our sinful, cold, tormented world; how God, through Christ, seeks out everyone whose soul has become heavy, whose soul has been darkened by sin, those who can no longer bear the burden of their life - due to illness or for another reason. As soon as Christ enters people's lives, this life begins to sparkle with joy, new hope, faith not only in God, but in oneself, in man, in life. And how we distort the gospel sermon and the gospel word when we turn our lives into a constant search for the darkest, sinful, unworthy of us, people, or God, under the pretext that by doing this we are trying to become worthy of our Mentor and Savior...

Joy was the seal of the evangelical Christian community, joy and gratitude, rejoicing that God so loved the world that he not only created this world, but sent His only begotten Son into this world - not to judge, but to save the world! We are saved, the world is saved by the love of God.

And we must make this salvation our own through gratitude, which would be expressed not only in words, not only in a living feeling of tenderness, not only in tears of joy, but in a life that could - so to speak - comfort the Father about that He gave up His Son for our sake, to rejoice the Savior that He did not live in vain, did not teach in vain, did not suffer in vain, and did not die in vain: that His love was poured into our lives, and that it is our hope, and our joy, and our rejoicing, and our confidence in salvation...

Therefore, as we now approach the Feast of the Incarnation, the Nativity of the Savior, let us learn this joy; Let's look at our lives in a new way; let us remember how much the Lord has poured into this life of ours mercy, affection, love, how much joy He has given us: bodily, spiritual; how many friends we have, let’s remember those who love us, the parents who protect us, even if they left this world. How much earthly things have been given to us, and how heavenly things flow into our lives and make earth already the beginning of heaven, make time already the beginning of eternity, make our present life the firstfruits of eternal life... Let us learn this joy, because in a very short time we will stand before the manger, in whom the Lord lies; we will see what God's love is - fragile, defenseless, vulnerable, giving itself without boundaries, without resistance - if only we accepted it and a new life, a new joy would begin for us... Let's think about the love of God and the fact that no force can defeat her. It was not in vain that the Apostle Paul said that nothing can snatch us from the hand of God, pluck us from Divine love. Let's learn to rejoice, and from the depths of this joy to build a life that would be continuous gratitude, if necessary - a cross, but exultant joy. Amen.