Friday 25 December 2020 - Nativity of the Lord - I bring you great joy: Today a Saviour is born to you, who is Christ the Lord! - Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 2, 1-14
We wish a very Merry Christmas to all. May the coming of Jesus in our midst flood each individual and each family with His peace, so that none may be deprived of His blessings.
There is no chance in God, everything is planned: Joseph left his hometown of Nazareth with his pregnant wife, Mary, and went to Judea to the city of David, Bethlehem, because he is from the house of David. In this year dedicated to St. Joseph, he teaches us to obey the laws, to accept God's plan, to seek and submit to God's will. Undoubtedly, we can say that Joseph took part in the fulfilment of God's plan. May we also be like him.
The birth of Jesus in the stable shows how we humans receive God, leaving no room for him, rejecting him from our lives, and again, we reject not only God but also the poor, the miserable, all of us left behind, even though they too are created in the image of God. Here, for example, it is the animals that received this first Son of God! Then come eagerly the poor shepherds, first alerted by the angel, to see the newborn baby and then to announce this great blessing for the whole world. This seems to indicate that grace is not reserved for the elite, the powerful, but for everyone, and that God does not want anyone to lose even the smallest crumb. This seems to be the case at Christmas, even those who don't celebrate it, God wants them to receive the grace He brings.
Finally, these shepherds first announced Jesus the Saviour to the people because when they saw what the angel had told them, they "told what had been announced to them about this child". It is our duty to do the same today. We must not only be content with celebrations in church or the pomp of home meals, but also and above all we must spread and proclaim the coming of the Saviour among the people. We will also remember those who cannot celebrate this Christmas for many reasons. May the peace of the Saviour be with us on this blessed day. Amen.
