CHRISTMAS MESSAGE "URBI ET ORBI"
December 25, 1999
1. "To us a child is born, to us a son is given" (Is 9:6).
Today the "good news" of Christmas rings out in the Church and in the world.
It rings out in the words of the Prophet Isaiah, called the "evangelist" of the
Old Testament, who speaks of the mystery of the redemption as if he saw the
events of seven centuries later. Words inspired by God, surprising words which
come down through history, and today, on the threshold of the Year 2000, re-echo
all through the earth, proclaiming the great mystery of the Incarnation.
2. "To us a child is born".
These prophetic words are fulfilled in the narrative of the Evangelist Luke,
who describes the "event", full of ever new wonder and hope. On that night in
Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to a Child, whom she called Jesus. There was no room
for them in the Inn; and so the Mother gave birth to the Son in a stable, and
laid him in a manger. The Evangelist John, in the Prologue of his Gospel,
penetrates the "mystery" of this event. The One born in the stable is the
eternal Son of God. He is the Word who was in the beginning, the Word who was
with God, the Word who was God. All things that were made were made through him
(cf. Jn 1:1-3).
The eternal Word, the Son of God, took the nature of man. God the Father "so
loved the world that he gave his only Son" (Jn. 3:16). When the Prophet Isaiah
says: "to us a child is born", he reveals, in all its fullness, the mystery of
Christmas: the eternal generation of the Word of the Father, his birth in time
through the work of the Holy Spirit.
3. The circle of the mystery widens: the Evangelist John writes: "The Word
became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1:14); and he adds: "To all who received
him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God" (1:12).
The circle of the mystery widens: the birth of the Son of God is the sublime
gift, the greatest grace for man's benefit that the human mind could ever have
imagined. Remembering the birth of Christ on this holy Day, we live, together
with this event, the "mystery of man's divine adoption" through the work of
Christ who comes into the world. For this reason, Christmas Night and Christmas
Day are perceived as "sacred" by those who seek the truth. We Christians profess
them to be "holy", because in them we recognize the unmistakable stamp of the
One who is Holy, full of mercy and goodness.
4. This year there is yet another reason which makes more holy this day of
grace: it is the beginning of the Great Jubilee. Last night, before Holy Mass, I
opened the Holy Door of the Vatican Basilica. A symbolic act, which inaugurates
the Jubilee Year, a gesture which highlights with singular eloquence something
already present in the mystery of Christmas: Jesus, born of Mary in the poverty
of Bethlehem, He, the Eternal Son given to us by the Father, is, for us and for
everyone, the Door! The Door of our salvation, the Door of life, the Door of
peace!
This is the message of Christmas and the proclamation of the Great Jubilee.
5. We turn our gaze to you, O Christ, Door of our salvation, as we thank you
for all the good of the years, centuries and millennia which have passed. We
must however confess that humanity has sometimes sought the Truth elsewhere,
invented false certainties, and chased after deceptive ideologies. At times
people have refused to respect and love their brothers and sisters of a
different race or faith; they have denied fundamental rights to individuals and
nations. But you continue to offer to all the splendor of the Truth which saves.
We look to you, O Christ, Door of Life, and we thank you for the wonders with
which you have enriched every generation.
At times this world neither respects nor loves life. But you never cease to
love life; indeed, in the mystery of Christmas, you come to enlighten people's
minds, so that legislators and political leaders, men and women of good will,
may be committed to welcoming human life as a precious gift. You come to give us
the Gospel of Life. We lift our eyes to you, O Christ, Door of peace, as,
pilgrims in time, we visit all the places of grief and of war, the resting
places of the victims of brutal conflicts and cruel slaughter. You, Prince of
Peace, invite us to ban the senseless use of arms, and the recourse to violence
and hatred which have doomed individuals, peoples and continents.
6. "To us a son is given".
You, Father, have given us your Son. And you give him to us again today, at
the dawn of the new millennium. For us he is the Door. Through him we enter a
new dimension and we reach the fullness of the destiny of salvation which you
have prepared for all. Precisely for this reason, Father, you gave us your Son,
so that humanity would know what it is that you wish to give us in eternity, so
that human beings would have the strength to fulfill your mysterious plan of
love. Christ, Son of the ever Virgin Mother, light and hope of those who seek
you even when they do not know you, and of those who, knowing you, seek you all
the more. Christ, you are the Door! Through you, in the power of the Holy
Spirit, we wish to enter the third millennium. You, O Christ, are the same
yesterday, today and for ever (cf. Heb 13:8).
