Among the many texts about Christmas, especially from the Gospel, which we have so often meditated on, the text that comes to mind now, as I wish you all a happy Christmas, is the angels’ greeting: “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to those who love the Lord.”
Peace to those who love the Lord, because, certainly, the Lord loves everyone, but we all need to welcome God’s love, and that is when true peace comes. Christ is our peace, and we must proclaim it joyfully, because we have the peace that the world needs.
Even though we are very small, with so many faults and limitations, we have the great source of peace, which is Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who we are going to contemplate in a special way at Christmas, as we do every year: a God who becomes small so that we might find it easier, if I can put it that way, to come close to Him, not feeling excessive awe, so to speak, because the Lord makes Himself very accessible to us.
We must recognise the lack of peace in the world. Saint Josemaría said, as many of you will remember, that there is a lack of peace in the world because there is a lack of peace in consciences, because true peace comes from people’s hearts. In this sense, we have a great mission: to transmit peace, to give peace, to be—as Saint Josemaría also said, and you will all remember well—sowers of peace and joy.
And how are we going to do this? How are we going to transmit peace? Peace is Christ. He told us, “I am peace.” And Saint Paul says, “He is our peace.” It is by giving Jesus Christ, by sharing everything that forms the immense, extraordinary message of the Gospel, of God’s love. Because, as I reminded you at the beginning, “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to those who love the Lord.” But the Lord is willing to give that peace to everyone; He only needs our free response.
For this reason, we must also see, without ignoring the great difficulties in the world — not allowing ourselves to fall into despair or pessimism, because if God is with us, even though we are little, we will always, together with the whole Church, be able to spread this true peace, which is Jesus Christ.
Well, I will not say more. We all know this very well. Christmas is an opportunity to reflect on it more deeply, to make it part of our own lives. And so, a very happy New Year as well, and we ask the Lord to always accompany us, because we are weak too. We always need the Lord’s support, the Lord’s help.
Happy Christmas!