¹ By God’s gracious will, dearest brothers, the day is near in which we long to celebrate with joy the birth of the Lord and Saviour. Therefore, I ask and exhort you, as much as we are able, to labour with God’s help so that on that day, with a sincere and pure conscience, a clean heart, and a chaste body, we may approach the altar of the Lord and be found worthy to receive His Body and Blood—not unto judgment, but as a remedy for our souls.

² For our very life depends on the Body of Christ, just as the Lord Himself said: “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you”. Therefore, let him who desires to receive life change his way of life. For if he does not change, he will receive life to his own condemnation. Rather than being healed by it, he will be corrupted; rather than being given life, he will be put to death. For the Apostle himself said: “Whoever eats the Body of the Lord and drinks His Blood unworthily eats and drinks judgment upon himself”. And although it is fitting for us at all times to be adorned and radiant with good works, this is especially true on the day of the Lord’s Nativity. As the Lord Himself said in the Gospel: “Let your works shine before all people”.

³ Consider, we ask you, brothers: when a powerful or noble man wishes to celebrate either his own birthday or that of his son, how diligently, even days in advance, he ensures that whatever is filthy in his house is thoroughly cleaned, whatever is unsuitable or unseemly is cast out, and whatever is useful and necessary is made ready. If the house is dark, it is whitewashed; the floors are swept clean, and the doors are adorned with various decorations. Every effort is made to provide whatever contributes to the joy of both soul and body in the celebration.

⁴ Why does he do all this, dearest brothers, if not so that his birthday may be celebrated with joy? If a mortal man prepares such things for his own birthday or that of his son, how much more—and with what kind of preparations—should you make ready to celebrate the Nativity of your Lord? If you prepare such things for one who is destined to die, what must you prepare for the One who is eternal?

⁵ Therefore, strive with all your might that whatever you would not wish to find in your house may not be found by God in your soul. Surely, if an earthly king or any master of a household were to invite you to his birthday feast, you would take great care to appear in the finest garments—new, spotless, and radiant—without any trace of age, cheapness, or filth that might offend the eyes of your host.

⁶ Therefore, with all the effort you can muster, strive—Christ helping you—that your soul may be adorned with various virtues, composed of the jewels of simplicity and the flowers of sobriety. In this way, you may approach the solemn feast of the eternal King, that is, the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour, with a pure conscience—shining with chastity, radiant with charity, and clothed in the brightness of almsgiving. For if the Lord Christ finds you thus prepared to celebrate His birth, He Himself will come, not only to visit your soul but to remain in it forever, even dwelling within it, as it is written:

⁷ “I will walk among them and dwell among them”, and again: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me”.

⁸ How blessed is that soul which, with God’s help, has sought to govern its life in such a way that it is found worthy to receive Christ as both guest and indwelling Lord! By contrast, how wretched is the conscience—deserving to be mourned with an outpouring of tears—that has so wounded itself by evil deeds, darkened itself with the stain of greed, burned itself with the fire of wrath, defiled itself with habitual lust, and been laid waste by the tyranny of pride, that not Christ, but the devil, comes to rule within it.

⁹ Such a soul, unless it quickly receives the remedy of repentance, will be abandoned by the light and consumed by darkness; it will be emptied of sweetness and filled with bitterness, seized by death and rejected by life. Yet, even such a soul must not despair of the Lord’s mercy, nor be crushed by excessive hopelessness. Rather, let it swiftly turn to repentance, and while the wounds of its sins are still fresh and burning, let it apply the healing medicine of penance. For our Physician is almighty, and He is accustomed to heal our wounds in such a way that not even the scars remain.

¹⁰ And so, most beloved brothers, just as at all times you must abstain from adulterous and wretched concubines, so also you ought to refrain from your own wives for many days whenever you intend to celebrate either the Lord’s Nativity or any other solemn feast. Above all, flee from drunkenness, resist anger as you would the most ferocious of beasts, cast hatred from your heart as if it were deadly poison, and let such great charity be within you that it extends not only to friends but even to your enemies. In this way, you may confidently say in the Lord’s Prayer: “Forgive us our debts”, and so on.

¹¹ For anyone who knows that he harbours hatred for even a single person—I do not know how he can approach the Lord’s altar with confidence, especially since the blessed John the Evangelist cries out in terrifying words, saying: “Whoever hates his brother is a murderer”. Now it is for you to judge whether a murderer, before he repents, should presume to receive the Eucharist.

¹² Moreover, Saint John adds and cries out, saying: “Whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes”. And again, he says: “Whoever does not love his brother remains in death”. And again: “If anyone says that he loves God but hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, how can he love God, whom he has not seen?”.

¹³ Therefore, whoever harbours hatred or anger in his heart and remains unmoved and unshaken under such thunderous warnings—he is not merely asleep, but must be considered as one who is dead.

¹⁴ Therefore, dearest brothers, always keep these things in mind: those who are good should, with God’s grace, strive to persevere in goodness. For it is not the one who begins but the one who perseveres in the love of God to the end who will be saved.

¹⁵ But those who recognize that they are slow to give alms, quick to anger, and prone to indulging in excess should hasten, with the Lord’s help, to free themselves from evil so that they may be found worthy to do what is good. In this way, when the Day of Judgment arrives, they will not be punished along with the wicked and sinners but will, by the Lord’s mercy, be counted among the just and merciful and thus be found worthy to attain eternal rewards.

¹⁶ This is granted by our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom belong honour and glory forever and ever. Amen.