Among the many texts about Christmas, especially from the Gospel, upon which we have often meditated, the one that comes to mind now, as I wish you all a happy Christmas, is the angels’ greeting: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” 

Peace to those who on whom his favour rests, because although the Lord loves everyone, we all need to welcome God’s love. That is when true peace comes. 

Christ is our peace! We must proclaim this 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. 

We are going to contemplate Him 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 used to say, 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.

True peace comes from people’s hearts. In this sense, we have a great mission: to transmit peace, to give peace, to be 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. 

As I reminded you at the beginning, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.” But the Lord is willing to give that peace to everyone; He only needs our free response.

For this reason, without ignoring the great difficulties in the world, we must not allow ourselves to fall into discouragement or pessimism. 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.

We all know this very well, but Christmas is an opportunity to reflect on it more deeply, to make it part of our own lives. 

A very happy New Year as well! We ask the Lord to always accompany us, because we are weak. We always need the Lord’s support, the Lord’s help.

Happy Christmas!