Dear Friends in Christ,

Today, we celebrate the feast of the Holy Family. Our gaze shifts from the center of the nativity scene—Jesus—to contemplate Mary and Joseph close to Him. The eternal Son of the Father goes from the eternal family, which is the Holy Trinity, to the earthly family formed by Mary and Joseph. How important the family must be in the eyes of God when the first thing He provides for His Son is a family!

Dear Friends in Christ,

Today a great light shines - the light of God’s love. Even though 2000 years have passed by, this still is the “Holy Night.” The only good news that can remove the fears of man today and can fill the soul with joy are those brought by the angels to the shepherds: “The Savior has been born!” Christmas night, good night, holy night! We feel great emotion as we face this mystery. Tonight, everything is big and at the same time, small.

Dear Friends in Christ,

We want to celebrate Christ's coming with a new heart and enormous joy. That is one of principal meanings of Advent. We should ask ourselves if we have done all that we were supposed to: Have I announced the good news of the Gospel to the poor? Have I mended broken hearts? Have I proclaimed pardon to the captive ones? Have I brought liberty to prisoners? We run the risk of living in a world of light and yet, not see, because of pure routine. Saint John reminds us to be on guard: “Among you stands one whom you do not know...”

Dear Friends in Christ,

We know that the Lord will come, but when? How? Like a thief, says St. Paul: when least expected. Some believe that the Lord is slow to fulfill his promise. Really though, it’s just that he is in no hurry but is patiently waiting for all of us to repent; he wants to find us at peace with Him.

Throughout history, hermits have attracted the crowds. Many were prophets who “proclaimed the meaning of human reality” but who also “interpreted it.” This is what happened with John the Baptist, who was among the people, awakening messianic hopes. John is the voice crying out in the wilderness. The content of his preaching coincides perfectly with Christ's. What is the relationship we find between John and Christ? St. Augustine said it beautifully: “It's the relationship between voice and speech. John is the voice, Christ is the Word; the first is a sound; the second is the speech, the message, the fullness of the truth.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

We are moving towards a celebration that touches the heart: Christmas. Advent, which begins today, is the suitable time to prepare for Christ's coming by practicing works of mercy and setting our hearts on the eternal rather than the things of this world.

Sometimes we look at our existence as a kind of night. It can be long and dark when we look at our powerlessness, our weakness, and our sins, but this does not mean we are “children of darkness.” We are waiting for a personal visit from Jesus, and this obliges us to be attentive to “the signs of the times” that indicate the closeness of the big day. Certainly, Christ has already come in the very first Christmas. And now he is coming back, here where I am, in what I do, if my heart is ready to welcome his way of coming as a light. In the Christmas Mass, Isaiah tells us, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.”