Today in the city of David, a Savior has been born to you—that is Christ the Lord.
Tonight we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, our Savior—the Redeemer. God became man. We remember this mystery every year, so that every year we have the opportunity to delve deeper into it, to contemplate it, to understand it even better. The fact that God became man is a mystery —the mystery of the incarnation, just as our most important holiday is the mystery of the Resurrection of Jesus. The fact that it is a mystery is indicated by the very fact that we celebrate both of these holidays at night. Because the night is associated with a particular mystery, a person must enter the nocturnal depths of the mysteries of Christmas and Easter to understand their message. It is similar to looking at the night sky full of stars, when we touch the infinity of the universe with our minds.
Even when we look at the Bethlehem scenery, our mind is invited to touch the infinity of God’s love. Because precisely in his infinite love, God decided to become man, to humble himself to our human level, to embrace our imperfect humanity with his perfect love of God. He was born as a tiny, vulnerable, fragile child. And why? He was born so that no one would be afraid to approach him, so that no one would have to be scared of him, and so that everyone could feel his closeness. Additionally, God does not impose his gifts; he only offers them. God chose to be born as an infant child because he wanted to be loved and to teach us to love.
He came to show us the way. God is love, and that is why he comes in love. He is unconditional love that puts up no obstacles. Love is realized in relationships, and to truly love means being able to forgive and have time for the other, for the family. A time when we can show each other how we love each other, because actions should accompany love; otherwise, it is an empty word.
Pure love spreads from the manger, and each of us is responsible for what we share with our surroundings. In today’s modern media, it is very easy to spread anything. Populists exploit this very skillfully because they need to create the impression that we live in a time when everything is actually bad, and there are only negative solutions. People are then no longer looking for someone who wants to solve problems, but only for someone who represents their feelings, desires, fears, hatred, and the like.
On the contrary, Jesus invites us: Remain in my love and you will bear much fruit. We can create a society whose root is precisely love, which allows us to overcome prejudices and to see in the other a sister and brother whom we should always love. Only this will lead us to unity, not shared ideology, hatred, or fear, but mutual respect and love—and then we will also discover that even people with different opinions are gifts from God. A divided society is a weak society, which is why every enemy tries to divide their opponent first, as the slogan ‘Divide and rule’ expresses. Let us strive for unity, because only in unity is there strength. Bethlehem gives us hope as humanity that we belong together and that we are beneficial together. What unites us is much stronger than what divides us.
Let us therefore be filled with the love that comes from the manger. May this true love shine from us like the Star of Bethlehem to everyone we meet, and may it not only be now at Christmas.
