2024 Christmas Greetings

Dear Brothers, 

Pace e bene! My warmest greetings to all!

During the past few days, while I was thinking about the tidings and good wishes I would share with you this Christmas, these words that we find in Scripture repeatedly came to my mind: “Let justice descend, O heavens, like dew from above, like gentle rain let the skies drop it down. Let the earth be shaken and salvation bud forth.”

There are, therefore, some directions to which we need to turn our eyes. First of all, to the clouds above: without an upward gaze, it is difficult in our lives to be able to live well, to be content, to be men of hope, of peace, of reconciliation. It is difficult. That which brings us all these gifts comes from above. They are gifts from God, they are gifts even for our personal lives, they are gifts from above.

But our gaze should not only be turned upward. In the same passage it says, “like gentle rain let the skies drop it down”; that is, when that from on high drops down and we call for the Righteous One to descend … for his righteousness to come down upon us, everything else will be given to us besides, says the Gospel. Let his righteousness come down; we are invoking the Righteous One and his righteousness.  

Therefore, let the earth be shaken, let the earth be opened: the Righteous One who comes to us shakes the earth, causing the earth to sprout, peace to bud forth, justice to blossom in our hearts, the meaning of life to germinate, and our fraternity and mission to bloom.

The direction to look is upward, but it is also downward to the earth, shaken by the presence of the God who comes among us – Jesus. It is very important, really important – I would even say essential and central for us, worthy of absolute primacy – to recognize the God who is present on our earth, who is present in our affairs, is a God who is withus. The great mystery of Christmas: a God who reaches down to our world, not just two thousand years ago, but who reaches down today, who is beside us today, who lives in our affairs. So, if we can turn our eyes to the Lord who is present in our midst, who germinates the earth as he does our lives, we become doers of hope, doers of peace. Why? Because he is the one who makes peace with us, with humanity.

This coming year of 2025 is the year of the Canticle of the Creatures. Francis knew, considering the beauty of things, considering beautiful things – St. Bonaventure says – seeing the Most Beautiful. He, following the footsteps imprinted in beautiful things, in his creatures, pursued everywhere the Beloved.

Our goal, our life, our perspective is not to be found in the commitments we have, it is not what we are called to do and accomplish, it is not in our plans of animation or of mission. Our primary goal is to follow in all things and everywhere the Beloved; To recognize His presence is our life and our salvation. In all things, in all creatures we are to follow the Beloved; it is not always easy because not everything around us and not everything we experience is always humanly beautiful and easy to deal with, and because we have no shortage of hardships. If we only look at this world, which is so barbarically fixed on the destruction of things and men, not everything looks quite so beautiful. Yet, St. Francis managed at the end of his life to praise the Lord for everything, even Sister Death!

So, if we are able to direct our gaze to the Beloved present in the world, present in our midst - God alive among us, walking with us and working with us – in all things, even the most strenuous things (which will always remain with us) we will discover a greater force that sustains and saves, and that operates starting with our littlest realities: our fraternities.

My wish, brothers, is that each of us will know how to evoke with power from above the Just One – the justice of God, will know how to recognize His presence in our midst, and will live this year recovering peace, recovering hope, and becoming a necessary witness – very necessary in these times in which we live – becoming a witness of peace.

Merry Christmas! God is with us!

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