Urbi
et Orbi
Message |
1. "To us a child is
born, to us a son is given" (Is 9:6). Today the "good news"
of Christmas rings out in the Church and in the world. It rings out in the
words of the Prophet Isaiah, called the "evangelist" of the Old
Testament, who speaks of the mystery of the redemption as if he saw the
events of seven centuries later. Words inspired by God, surprising words
which come down through history, and today, on the threshold of the Year
2000, re-echo all through the earth, proclaiming the great mystery of the
Incarnation.
2. "To us a child is born". These
prophetic words are fulfilled in the narrative of the Evangelist Luke, who
describes the "event", full of ever new wonder and hope. On that
night in Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to a Child, whom she called Jesus.
There was no room for them in the Inn; and so the Mother gave birth to the
Son in a stable, and laid him in a manger. The Evangelist John, in the
Prologue of his Gospel, penetrates the "mystery" of this event.
The One born in the stable is the eternal Son of God. He is the Word who
was in the beginning, the Word who was with God, the Word who was God. All
things that were made were made through him (cf. Jn 1:1-3). The eternal
Word, the Son of God, took the nature of man. God the Father "so
loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn 3:16). When the
Prophet Isaiah says: "to us a child is born", he reveals, in all
its fulness, the mystery of Christmas: the eternal generation of the Word
of the Father, his birth in time through the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. The circle of the mystery widens: the Evangelist
John writes: "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn
1:14); and he adds: "to all who received him, who believed in his
name, he gave power to become children of God" (1:12). The circle of
the mystery widens: the birth of the Son of God is the sublime gift, the
greatest grace for man’s benefit that the human mind could ever have
imagined. Remembering the birth of Christ on this holy Day, we live,
together with this event, the "mystery of man’s divine
adoption" through the work of Christ who comes into the world. For
this reason, Christmas Night and Christmas Day are perceived as
"sacred" by those who seek the truth. We Christians profess them
to be "holy", because in them we recognize the unmistakable
stamp of the One who is Holy, full of mercy and goodness.
4. This year there is yet another reason which makes
more holy this day of grace: it is the beginning of the Great Jubilee.
Last night, before Holy Mass, I opened the Holy Door of the Vatican
Basilica. A symbolic act, which inaugurates the Jubilee Year, a gesture
which highlights with singular eloquence something already present in the
mystery of Christmas: Jesus, born of Mary in the poverty of Bethlehem, He,
the Eternal Son given to us by the Father, is, for us and for everyone,
the Door! The Door of our salvation, the Door of life, the Door of peace!
This is the message of Christmas and the proclamation of the Great
Jubilee.
5. We turn our gaze to you, o Christ, Door of our
salvation, as we thank you for all the good of the years, centuries and
millennia which have passed. We must however confess that humanity has
sometimes sought the Truth elsewhere, invented false certainties, and
chased after deceptive ideologies. At times people have refused to respect
and love their brothers and sisters of a different race or faith; they
have denied fundamental rights to individuals and nations. But you
continue to offer to all the splendour of the Truth which saves. We look
to you, O Christ, Door of Life, and we thank you for the wonders with
which you have enriched every generation. At times this world neither
respects nor loves life. But you never cease to love life; indeed, in the
mystery of Christmas, you come to enlighten people’s minds, so that
legislators and political leaders, men and women of good will, may be
committed to welcoming human life as a precious gift. You come to give us
the Gospel of Life. We lift our eyes to you, O Christ, Door of peace, as,
pilgrims in time, we visit all the places of grief and of war, the resting
places of the victims of brutal conflicts and cruel slaughter. You, Prince
of Peace, invite us to ban the senseless use of arms, and the recourse to
violence and hatred which have doomed individuals, peoples and continents.
6. "To us a son is given". You, Father,
have given us your Son. And you give him to us again today, at the dawn of
the new millennium. For us he is the Door. Through him we enter a new
dimension and we reach the fulness of the destiny of salvation which you
have prepared for all. Precisely for this reason, Father, you gave us your
Son, so that humanity would know what it is that you wish to give us in
eternity, so that human beings would have the strength to fulfill your
mysterious plan of love. Christ, Son of the ever Virgin Mother, light and
hope of those who seek you even when they do not know you, and of those
who, knowing you, seek you all the more. Christ, you are the Door! Through
you, in the power of the Holy Spirit, we wish to enter the third
millennium. You, O Christ, are the same yesterday, today and for ever (cf.
Heb 13:8). |