During this holy time, our worship is filled with special prayers that convey the meaning of what we celebrate. In today’s Tropar for our Christ-feast, we pray:

O Jesus, enthroned on high together with Your eternal Father and Divine Spirit, You condescended to be born on earth of a maiden and virgin mother. And on the eighth day You were circumcised. Praised be Your plan of salvation! Praised by Your condescension, O Lord! You alone love mankind.

We need to pause and think about what we pray. We believe that indeed God has a plan for our salvation. He has, through the circumstances of our lives, allowed us to be initiated into the Christian faith – belief in the great love that our Creator-God has for us. We believe that His love is so great that He came into our world to help us actualize the potential within us to become like Him, as He is known in the Person of Jesus.

The true meaning and purpose of our lives is to share the fullness of God’s own life. We were created in His image and have the ability, if we truly cooperate with God, to grow in His likeness. As we grow in His likeness we grow in our awareness of how very much our Creator-God loves us. To know we are loved unconditionally is perhaps the most profound of all possible human feelings. It gives us the strength and courage to meet all of life’s challenges.

On this day we also pray this second Tropar.

Your voice resounds throughout the world which has accepted the lessons so well taught by you. You have given explanation of divine truths. You have clarified the nature of created things. You have made a rule of life for men. By your royal priesthood, O venerable Father Basil, intercede with Christ to save our souls.

We offer yet a third special prayer this day in the honor of the Mother of God. We pray:

In You, O Woman Full of Grace, the angelic choirs and the human race – all creation – rejoices. O Sanctified Temple, Mystical Paradise, and Glory of Virgins, He, Who is our God from before all ages, took flesh from you and became a child. He made your womb a throne, and greater than the heavens. In you, O Woman Full of Grace, all creation rejoices. All praise be to you.

If you didn’t reflect on these prayers during the Liturgy, why not take time now to do so.