Christ Is Not Yet Born
"Bethlehem, make ready. Ephrathah, prepare yourself!" "Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son." The Nativity of our Lord has not yet come: we still await this great feast. Christ is not yet born. It is true that we do not deny His historical birth, and we still proclaim in the Creed and in the Hymn to the Only-Begotten that the Son of God was made man. Yet we do not particularly celebrate this fact, this momentous event, for we are still awaiting. "The people who wait in darkness": this describes the Church at this time. All creation is waiting with Her, with us, though the great event has occurred. Despite this, we wait for the dawning of that day: Christ is not yet born. This time of preparation, while it may vary in length, is present throughout the Church. In the East it is the Nativity Fast, and in the West it is Advent. It is a time of waiting and of penance before that great, great feast, the Nativity.