On December 21, the Sunday before Christmas, Borys Gudziak, Archbishop of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, presided over the Divine Liturgy and addressed the faithful with a homily in which he called them to experience more deeply the mystery of the Nativity of Christ as an encounter with the living hope that comes from God.
At the beginning of his homily, the Archbishop drew attention to the conclusion of the calendar year and the jubilee year, which the Church had lived as a special time of openness to the virtue of hope, “This calendar year is coming to an end, a year in which we, as a Church, opened ourselves in a particular way to the gift of hope. And next week, on Sunday, we will conclude this jubilee year. It was a gift of Pope Francis before his death, and this year has been filled with many graces. Each of us has experienced certain graces, and God grant that we may come to the Nativity scene carrying them with us,” the Archbishop said.
Reflecting on the Gospel reading, the Archbishop emphasized that Christian hope has a concrete source and a name, “Today’s reading underscores that our hope is Christ; that Christ comes from God; and that Christ is the expectation of all humanity and a gift that enters history in a concrete way.”
Explaining the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the Archbishop drew attention to the depth of God’s plan, which is both a plan of creation and a plan of salvation. “The Lord’s plan is a plan of creation. The creation of Adam and Eve finds its fulfillment in the new creation that comes through Jesus Christ,” the Archbishop explained.
He noted that all creation and all humanity await the event of Christmas with hope — the coming of the Savior, the birth of the Son of God from Mary. “Thirty-two times it is said that one begot another, but the final time it does not say that someone begot Jesus; rather, that Jesus was born of the Virgin. For this is God’s action — the action of the Holy Spirit in Mary. In these days we will reflect on this mystery. What did it mean for Mary? What did it mean for Joseph?”
Speaking about the modern person, the Archbishop drew attention to the inner haste, overload, and noise that often prevent us from stopping and seeing what truly matters. “Each of us, dear brothers and sisters, is rushing somewhere — with our feet, our thoughts, our problems. Hurry, noise, overload with tasks and information, hyperstimulation with images and the internet.”
According to him, the week of the Nativity of Christ places before each person a personal and decisive question: “The question is whether we are ready to trust God.”
The Archbishop emphasized that people seek healing, solutions, and victory, but the true answer is already near, “It is here. It is before our eyes. It comes in a small Child. And the entire gaze, the entire focus of the universe is directed toward this event, because only in God can our hearts find rest; only in the Lord can we find the peace and joy for which every person longs.”
In conclusion, the Archbishop stressed that hope cannot be attained through human effort, “We cannot buy it, nor can we achieve it through Olympic-like efforts, but rather through the faith of Abraham and the forefathers, the faith of our ancestors, the faith of all those who entrusted themselves to God and believed in this Nativity.”
