Hebrews 5:11-6:8, especially vs. 6:7: "Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God." [NIV] As we celebrate the bright wonder of the Lord's Holy Nativity in the flesh, we do well to join with the Church and profess before our man-befriending God, "O Christ, true Light that lighteth and sanctifieth every man that cometh into the world, may the light of Thy countenance be impressed on our faces that we may see therewith the unapproachable Light [and] order our steps after Thy commandments."
We know in our hearts, Beloved of God, that it is not enough to soak up the joys and graces of this Feast in our souls and then produce no crop useful to the Lord for Whom our souls are farmed. How many hear the great hymnody of the Church over the media of radio and television only to bear "thorns and briers" fit only to be "rejected and...cursed, whose end is to be burned" (vs. 8). Let us not be among those whom the Apostle chides as he says, "we have much to say, and [it is] hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing" (vs. 5:11).
First, let us take the Apostle's message into our hearts, and there, on the secret altar of our prayers, offer up such petitions as the Church teaches us, begging God: "order our steps after Thy commandments," help us move forward in the life in Christ, which is our privilege. "O God, let us not stagnate in the Life of Him Whom Thy Holy Spirit has formed within us; but let the ineffable wonder of Thy Holy Son Jesus come forth from our flesh, from this day forward."
St. Paul is concerned about these tendencies in us to remain like babes in the Faith. Understand him: there is something inherently wrong when a Christian allows days and years to accumulate and still needs "someone to teach [him] again the first principles of the oracles of God; and [who has] come to need milk and not solid food" from God's hand (vs. 5:12). We ought to be growing in the skills of the faith, "in the word of righteousness" (vs. 13), so we may partake of the solid food which belongs to those who are mature (vs. 14).
Think for a moment how many times you have prayed "Give us this day our daily bread" (Mt. 6:11). For what do you pray? Yes, certainly we know that God provides the earthly good things we enjoy, but this prayer contains much more for us as Christians. As St. Maximos the Confessor has taught us, "Thus to understand this passage of the prayer in its clearest meaning we should say, 'Our bread,' which You prepared in the beginning for the immortality of nature, 'give us this day,' to us who belong to the mortal condition of the present life, so that nourishment by the Bread of Life and knowledge triumph over the death of sin."
St. Maximos points out that, "...the one who prays to receive this supersubstantial bread does not receive it altogether as this bread is in itself, but as he is able to receive it." The more we fall away, the less good the Holy Gifts do us. Let us not despair at our failures, but rather address our needs. Especially let us not misread the Apostle's words, that "it is impossible for those who were once enlightened...if they fall away, to renew themselves again to repentance" (vss. 6:4-6). He simply means that we may not receive the Baptismal cleansing again. Still, there are tears, repentance, confession, prayer, and almsgiving as means to restore God's grace. Hear St. John Chrysostom: "...to make men new is the work of the laver [Baptism] only...But it is the work of repentance, when those who have been made new, have afterwards become old through sins, to set them free from this old age, and to make them strong." Let the rain of the Christ Child's grace fall on us to make us new every morning and to lead us on to eternal life.
Come, ye that have put on Christ, let us behold a wonder that overtaketh all minds.