“And The Word Became
Flesh And Made His Dwelling Place Among Us” (Jn 1:14)
Dear Sisters
and Brothers in Christ,
Christmas
for generations has become a global event before the term “globalization” comes
into existence and enters all aspects of our modern life.
Christmas
has become the source of inspiration for musicians, writers, artists and
architects to compose countless beautiful and immortal masterpieces.
This can
happen because of the very essential and powerful strength of Christmas
itself. Christmas comes from old English
“Cristesmesse”, meaning Christian Mass, the celebration of Christ’s birthday,
popularly observed on December 25 every year.
Christian doctrine,
based on the Holy Bible, teaches the truth that Christ, the Son of God, the
Savior of the human race, was born into the world, in order to free us all from
the power of sin and death.
Christ’s
coming into the world put an end to all forms of suffering and evil caused by
sin. In fact, man was created by God in
His divine image and he lived in an intimate relationship with the Lord God,
the Creator. God gave man authority over
all the creation to cultivate and care for it in his behalf. Thus among God, man and nature was there a
life in great harmony, good order and lasting friendship: God often came to
visit man in the garden and man saw and talked to God face to face as a child
to his father. God even married man to
the woman whom He created from man’s flesh and bones.
Unfortunately,
because man sinned against God’s love, he broke his relationship with God, with
his neighbor, with nature and with himself.
The divisions and separations went beyond restoration. The history of humanity has witnessed
suffering of all kinds in place of suffering, before death, the most harmful
and destructive evil comes into the world.
Man can by
no means escape from the evil consequences of sin, much less is he able to save
himself from death. So it can be said
that the exit door was shut up in front of a sinful humankind. Man and his children would have been
eternally condemned for having failed to keep God’s commandment had God not
decided to rescue them from all forms of evil by sending Jesus Christ into the
world.
True God
though He was, Christ took the human nature in order to stay among us human
beings, teaching us the truth on God’s secrets of which the most top secret is
that God loves us and wants us to enjoy everlasting life in his Kingdom
regardless of our failure in loving Him.
Not only did Christ tell us everything about God the Father’s plan of
salvation to set us free from sin and death, He Himself did show us His great
love by laying His own life on the cross as a sacrifice for sin in our behalf.
We all
sinners have been freed from the power of the forces of evil by Christ Jesus
with so high a cost, that of the blood of the Son of God Who so loved us that
He gave us His Son to die in our place and so obtain for us forgiveness of our
sins and life that never ends in His Kingdom.
This is the
reason why the birthday of Jesus Christ becomes the greatest event in the
history of humanity. We are so happy and
overwhelmed by the Good News of His coming and staying in our midst because we
owe Him a great sea of gratitude for saving our lives. We still need Him so much when we are caught
in a world torn by hatred, divisions, bloody conflicts, suffering, natural and
manmade disasters which all seem to be endless.
However, we
should not lose our hope in Christ Jesus Who told us “Do not be afraid because
I have conquered the world”[1] In fact, the Lord and Savior of the world has
come and made His home among us in order to share with us in our everyday
struggle for a better future. Let us
take into serious consideration His promise: “I am with you always until the
end of the age.”[2]
“And The Word Became Flesh And Made
His Dwelling Place Among Us” is therefore for us
the strong ground for our undying efforts to build a society filled with love,
peace and life for all peoples and countries as God has willed so from the
creation of the world.
Merry
Christmas and happy New Year!
Joyeux Noel
et Bonne Année!
Maligayang
Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon po sa inyong lahat!
Kính chúc Lễ
Chúa Giáng Sinh vui tươi và Năm Mới Bình An!
