Wishing All of You a Blessed and Merry Christmas

No matter what the circumstances were in my life, the day our Savoir was born has always been a joyful.  Sometimes, it has been a refuge and others, a celebration of the bounty of gifts I was experiencing in the ebbs and flows of life.

I thought the Christmas message in 2000 from John Paul II was a good one to share with all of you in blogosphere evangelizing the captives of the culture of death. Thank you to all of you who are working to bring light into the darkness, for your prayers, support, friendship and love and I wish you a very blessed Christmas.

From the manger, our gaze takes in all humanity, called to receive the grace of the "second Adam", yet still heir to the sin of the "first Adam". Is it not this first "No" to God, repeated in every human sin, which continues to mar the face of humanity? Children subjected to violence, humiliated and abandoned, women raped and exploited, young people, adults and the elderly marginalised, endless streams of exiles and refugees, violence and conflict in so many parts of the world.

We cannot but recall that shadows of death threaten people's lives at every stage of life, and are especially menacing at its earliest beginning and its natural end. The temptation is becoming ever stronger to take possession of death by anticipating its arrival, as though we were masters of our own lives or the lives of others. We are faced by alarming signs of the "culture of death", which pose a serious threat for the future.

Yet however dense the darkness may appear, our hope for the triumph of the Light which appeared on that Holy Night at Bethlehem is stronger still. So much good is being done, silently, by men and women who daily live their faith, their work, their dedication to their families and to the good of society.

Encouraging too are the efforts of all those, including men and women in public life, striving to foster respect for the human rights of every person, and the growth of solidarity between peoples of different cultures, so that the debt of the poorest countries will be condoned and honourable peace agreements reached between nations engaged in tragic conflicts.

Message of Christmas

To peoples in all parts of the world who are moving with courage towards the values of democracy, freedom, respect and mutual acceptance, and to all persons of good will, whatever their culture, the joyful message of Christmas is addressed: "Peace on earth to those on whom God's favour rests" (cf Lk 2:14).

Amen to all that!