May our Prayer be a Weapon of Resistance in the New Year

A new year is upon us, my dear friends, the year 2019. May Christ and Our Lady bless it, and may it bring us joy and happiness. But, as we’ve had occasion to mention before, these two, real joy and happiness, are only to be found if we’re close to God. This is why I pray that you, my Christian friends, will be rooted in faith in Christ and will live in accordance with His holy commandments. Then, I promise you, you’ll find spiritual peace and joy, such joy that no-one can ever take away from you, no matter how hard they fight against you and hound you.

We know, my brothers and sisters, because we see and experience it, that these years are difficult from every point of view, but this shouldn’t bring us to our knees, nor make us despair, because there’s always been sin and wickedness in the world. But despite the surfeit of sin, the faith of real, genuine Christians is never shaken, nor do they compromise with evil. Instead, they tread God’s path steadfastly, even if they have to endure mockery and persecution from those around them. Indeed, the Book of the Revelation of Saint John tells us that even worse years are to come, when evil will ascend the throne and govern us. This is what the Revelation says about the beast- that is sin- about the crowned beast. The fact that the beast or sin is depicted as being crowned means precisely that it will rule. It will have authority. This happened years ago, in the first period of our faith, when the godless Nero and Diocletian were emperors. So it would come as no surprise were this to happen again in our own day and age, or in years to come. What we have to do is to be firm and unshakeable in our faith and in our love for Christ and to live as our ancestors did before us, with the holy traditions which they left us as a sacred legacy. We thank them and are grateful to them. May we have their blessing.

My Christian friends, it’s my wish that in the new year, whatever the vicissitudes that befall us, we will all have prayer to Christ and Our Lady as our weapon of resistance. Our Lady will save us! She is our Stalwart Champion. With our faith in and love for Our Lady, we’ve stood on our feet and grown in stature as individuals and as a collective. Let’s not be so foolish, then, as to deny our Root and thus bring destruction of our own making down upon us. That’s what we call treason and suicide.

I hope that in 2019, you’ll become stronger and firmer in the ideals of our faith and that you’ll instill these in your children and grandchildren so that they can enjoy the wonderful life which they deserve. Amen.

Happy New Year
With Best Wishes
† Metropolitan Ieremias of Gortyn and Megalopolis