Let peace, light and joy fill all hearts
A Christmas message for the faithful of the Archdiocese of San Francisco from Archbishop George Niederauer:
Over 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ the Savior was born, yet so much seems unchanged. Powerful rulers like Caesar Augustus can still make families homeless, ordering them to go where they command; petty tyrants like King Herod can still make people refugees, running for their lives into exile. The borders and place names changed, but not the conditions.
Still, we Christians believe everything has changed. In the light of the Good News the angels announced to the shepherds, we and our world have been transformed: “This day in David’s city a savior has been born to you, the Messiah and Lord. Let this be a sign to you: in a manger you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes.”
Again this winter we need to hear and respond to this news. The Good News of Dec. 25 enables us to face the bad news in the world and even in our own lives. The Prince of Peace wants to be new-born in our hearts and lives. The Savior born in Bethlehem has brought us from darkness to light, from sin to grace, from death to life in his Spirit. What his life left unchanged is precisely what he wants to change through us. Now Jesus wants to work within us for peace and justice in our families, our neighborhoods, our country and our world. When we meet him disguised and needy, we must not make the innkeeper’s mistake.
This Christmas let us pray to be centered less on ourselves and more on Christ, so that we may recognize and serve him. Let us pray most particularly for peace and justice in the land of his birth.
May the peace, light and joy of the newborn Savior bless you in this Christmas season and throughout the new year.
By Archbishop George H. Niederauer
From the December 17, 2010 issue of Catholic San Francisco
