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Vatican City,
Dec. 25, 2006 (Zenit): (Here is a Vatican translation of
the Christmas Day address Benedict XVI delivered at
midday from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.)
"Salvator
noster natus est in mundo" (Roman Missal)
"Our Saviour is born to the world!" During the night, in
our Churches, we again heard this message that,
notwithstanding the passage of the centuries, remains
ever new. It is the heavenly message that tells us to
fear not, for "a great joy" has come "to all the people"
(Lk 1:10). It is a message of hope, for it tells us
that, on that night over two thousand years ago, there
"was born in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ
the Lord" (Lk 2:11). The Angel of Christmas announced it
then to the shepherds out on the hills of Bethlehem;
today the Angel repeats it to us, to all who dwell in
our world: "The Saviour is born; he is born for you!
Come, come, let us adore him!".
But does a "Saviour" still have any value and meaning
for the men and women of the third millennium? Is a "Saviour"
still needed by a humanity which has reached the moon
and Mars and is prepared to conquer the universe; for a
humanity which knows no limits in its pursuit of
nature's secrets and which has succeeded even in
deciphering the marvellous codes of the human genome? Is
a Saviour needed by a humanity which has invented
interactive communication, which navigates in the
virtual ocean of the internet and, thanks to the most
advanced modern communications technologies, has now
made the Earth, our great common home, a global village?
This humanity of the twenty-first century appears as a
sure and self-sufficient master of its own destiny, the
avid proponent of uncontested triumphs.
So
it would seem, yet this is not the case. People continue
to die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty, in
this age of plenty and of unbridled consumerism. Some
people remain enslaved, exploited and stripped of their
dignity; others are victims of racial and religious
hatred, hampered by intolerance and discrimination, and
by political interference and physical or moral coercion
with regard to the free profession of their faith.
Others see their own bodies and those of their dear
ones, particularly their children, maimed by weaponry,
by terrorism and by all sorts of violence, at a time
when everyone invokes and acclaims progress, solidarity
and peace for all. And what of those who, bereft of
hope, are forced to leave their homes and countries in
order to find humane living conditions elsewhere? How
can we help those who are misled by facile prophets of
happiness, those who struggle with relationships and are
incapable of accepting responsibility for their present
and future, those who are trapped in the tunnel of
loneliness and who often end up enslaved to alcohol or
drugs? What are we to think of those who choose death in
the belief that they are celebrating life?
How can we not hear, from the very depths of this
humanity, at once joyful and anguished, a heart-rending
cry for help? It is Christmas: today "the true light
that enlightens every man" (Jn 1:9) came into the world.
"The word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14),
proclaims the Evangelist John. Today, this very day,
Christ comes once more "unto his own", and to those who
receive him he gives "the power to become children of
God"; in a word, he offers them the opportunity to see
God's glory and to share the joy of that Love which
became incarnate for us in Bethlehem. Today "our Saviour
is born to the world", for he knows that even today we
need him. Despite humanity's many advances, man has
always been the same: a freedom poised between good and
evil, between life and death. It is there, in the very
depths of his being, in what the Bible calls his
"heart", that man always needs to be "saved". And, in
this post-modern age, perhaps he needs a Saviour all the
more, since the society in which he lives has become
more complex and the threats to his personal and moral
integrity have become more insidious. Who can defend
him, if not the One who loves him to the point of
sacrificing on the Cross his only-begotten Son as the
Saviour of the world?
"Salvator
noster": Christ is also the Saviour of men and women
today. Who will make this message of hope resound, in a
credible way, in every corner of the earth? Who will
work to ensure the recognition, protection and promotion
of the integral good of the human person as the
condition for peace, respecting each man and every woman
and their proper dignity? Who will help us to realize
that with good will, reasonableness and moderation it is
possible to avoid aggravating conflicts and instead to
find fair solutions? With deep apprehension I think, on
this festive day, of the Middle East, marked by so many
grave crises and conflicts, and I express my hope that
the way will be opened to a just and lasting peace, with
respect for the inalienable rights of the peoples living
there. I place in the hands of the divine Child of
Bethlehem the indications of a resumption of dialogue
between the Israelis and Palestinians, which we have
witnessed in recent days, and the hope of further
encouraging developments. I am confident that, after so
many victims, destruction and uncertainty, a democratic
Lebanon, open to others and in dialogue with different
cultures and religions, will survive and progress. I
appeal to all those who hold in their hands the fate of
Iraq, that there will be an end to the brutal violence
that has brought so much bloodshed to the country, and
that every one of its inhabitants will be safe to lead a
normal life. I pray to God that in Sri Lanka the parties
in conflict will heed the desire of the people for a
future of brotherhood and solidarity; that in Darfur and
throughout Africa there will be an end to fratricidal
conflicts, that the open wounds in that continent will
quickly heal and that the steps being made towards
reconciliation, democracy and development will be
consolidated. May the Divine Child, the Prince of Peace,
grant an end to the outbreaks of tension that make
uncertain the future of other parts of the world, in
Europe and in Latin America.
"Salvator
noster": this is our hope; this is the message that the
Church proclaims once again this Christmas day. With the
Incarnation, as the Second Vatican Council stated, the
Son of God has in some way united himself with each man
and women (cf. "Gaudium et Spes," 22). The birth of the
Head is also the birth of the body, as Pope Saint Leo
the Great noted. In Bethlehem the Christian people was
born, Christ's mystical body, in which each member is
closely joined to the others in total solidarity. Our
Saviour is born for all. We must proclaim this not only
in words, but by our entire life, giving the world a
witness of united, open communities where fraternity and
forgiveness reign, along with acceptance and mutual
service, truth, justice and love.
A
community saved by Christ. This is the true nature of
the Church, which draws her nourishment from his Word
and his Eucharistic Body. Only by rediscovering the gift
she has received can the Church bear witness to Christ
the Saviour before all people. She does this with
passionate enthusiasm, with full respect for all
cultural and religious traditions; she does so joyfully,
knowing that the One she proclaims takes away nothing
that is authentically human, but instead brings it to
fulfilment. In truth, Christ comes to destroy only evil,
only sin; everything else, all the rest, he elevates and
perfects. Christ does not save us from our humanity, but
through it; he does not save us from the world, but came
into the world, so that through him the world might be
saved (cf. Jn 3:17).
Dear brothers and sisters, wherever you may be, may this
message of joy and hope reach your ears: God became man
in Jesus Christ, he was born of the Virgin Mary and
today he is reborn in the Church. He brings to all the
love of the Father in heaven. He is the Saviour of the
world! Do not be afraid, open your hearts to him and
receive him, so that his Kingdom of love and peace may
become the common legacy of each man and woman. Happy
Christmas!
[Translation of the Italian original distributed by the
Holy See] |
