Christmas week is like a hilly ride: up and down, up and down… On Christmas Day, we rejoice in the birth of the Son of God, who became man so that we could become children of God. However, on the second day of Christmas, December 26, we remember Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. The third day of Christmas is the feast of Saint John the Apostle and Evangelist, who proclaimed the good news of the incarnation of the Word and the manifestation of true Life. However, the fourth day of Christmas is dedicated to the victims of a terrible crime, the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem.

“The Lord is at hand.” Of course, He is not “at hand” so that we can use Him. And He is not at our side as someone we can occasionally use for help when we can no longer do it ourselves. The fact that the Lord is at hand actually means that our entire life is in His hands. From Him comes everything we are and everything we need to live.

What are the mysteries of God of which Saint Paul calls himself the steward? First of all, it is the message about Jesus Christ, and about Him as the Crucified. Christ’s death on the cross of Calvary and His resurrection from the dead are, on the one hand, a truth revealed to us all, but on the other hand, it is a mystery – the mystery of God’s love, grace, mercy, and His often incomprehensible wisdom.

All Scripture proclaims Christ. This is the fundamental principle upon which the apostles and Christ himself interpreted the Scriptures. This principle is the basis of the Church’s teaching about God and our faith in Him, about sin and redemption, about the present age and eternity.

This is exactly what Saint Paul says in today's Epistle: “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.” Our hope is in Christ Jesus, who is the root of Jesse foretold by the prophet Isaiah and has brought salvation to both Jews and Gentiles.