At Christmas, we are not
limited to commemorating the birth of a great personality; we do not celebrate
simply and in the abstract the mystery of the birth of man or in general, the
birth of life; neither do we celebrate only the beginning of a great season. At
Christmas, we remember something very concrete and important for man, something
essential for Christian faith, a truth that St. John summarized in these few
words: "The Word was made flesh."
Dear brothers and sisters,
Christmas is a privileged opportunity to meditate on the meaning and value of
our existence. It helps us to reflect, on one hand, about the drama of history
in which men, wounded by sin, are permanently seeking happiness and a
satisfactory meaning to life and death; on the other hand, it exhorts us to
meditate on the merciful goodness of God, who has gone out to meet man to
communicate to him directly the Truth that saves, and make him participate in
his friendship and his life.
Let us welcome the nativity
of Christ as an event capable of today renewing our existence. May the encounter
with the Child Jesus make us people who do not think only of ourselves, but
rather open to the expectations and necessities of our brothers. In this way we
too become testimonies of the light that Christmas radiates over the humanity
of the third millennium. Let us ask most holy Mary, the tabernacle of the
incarnate Word, and St. Joseph, silent witness of the events of salvation, to
communicate to us the sentiments they had so that we will celebrate in a holy
way Christmas, in the joy of faith and enlivened by the determination of a
sincere conversion.
Merry Christmas to all!
(An excerpt of Christmas
reflection by Pope Benedict XVI)
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