25.12.2017
“He became Man”
Today our Saviour is born! Let us all rejoice and be glad, for there is no place for sadness. Today we celebrate the feast of Life which destroys the fear of mortality and brings to us the Joy of Eternity.
Indeed, my dear brethren,
God became man, so what was promised from the beginning was accomplished in the fulfilment of time and will endure forever. “ The grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men” (Titus 2:11) .
God became man so that no one is excluded from partaking in this happiness. There is for all, one common measure of true joy and true hope, because our Lord, the giver of Life, has come to free us all, restoring in every one of us the fullness of the human dignity. He rescues us from the power of darkness and brings us out into the Kingdom of the Father so that “we might be in Him a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17).
Christmas feast today calls us to commit ourselves to “protect human dignity under all circumstances” as Pope Francis said.
Today’s feast puts us in front of serious challenges and questions as members of Christ’s Body as well as brothers and sisters of one human family:
Is there true joy and happiness? Where can we find peace? Why is still injustice, poverty, disasters, wars and hatred dominating the world? Why are millions of refugees and migrants obliged to abandon their homeland, their roots seeking a more secure refuge for their families? Why the human person, created after God’s image, is not respected but just considered an object, a number and a product of consummation? Why the most powerful of the world do not use their capacities to eliminate inequalities, to remedy illness, sufferings, economic crisis and make damages to the creation? Why the trade of arms is becoming the first priority for economic establishment for the powerful countries? let us recall Pope Francis’ statement in this regard: ” The arms trade has the effect of complicating and eliminating the solution of conflicts”. Aren’t these phenomenon an expression of the sin of the world, of men, of their selfishness and proper interests? In fact, they reflect the lack of love and the loss of faith. Jesus reminds us: ” This people honours me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me” (Mathew 15:8).
My beloved, in the midst of the darkness of sins and the attitudes of indifferences and in parallel of all what exist in the world, there are many signs of Hope and Faith; there are many women and men, youth and children who want to adore the Lord in Spirit and Truth (John 4:23). They are indeed the light and the salt of the world. You are one of them, you could be one of them when you make from your heart the pure “manger” to let Jesus be born again in you. By His living Word the “Gospel of the Truth” and through the Holy Eucharist the “Bread of Life” you become the messenger of Peace singing Alleluia: “for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). We can rejoice with the Virgin Mary answering “Yes” to the will of God in our lives by professing, praying as well as by serving every human being. Let us take initiatives of solidarity and care toward the poor, the needy, the marginalised and those who are in the “peripheries of the society” in order to promote and protect the human dignity. Today we celebrate together the beauty of the human dignity for which I call the parents, the educators and the pastoral agents to educate the new generation.
Dear Brethren,
In this Holy Night, let us raise our prayer with the exulting angels so that the peace of the Divine Child reigns in every home and every family, in our beloved Cyprus and Lebanon, in the Middle East and in the whole world. Amen.
Merry Christmas
Nicosia, Christmas 2017
† Youssef Soueif
Maronite Archbishop of Cyprus