In his Urbi et Orbi message to the world last Christmas, Pope Francis asked us to look to Bethlehem for the true hope that is Christmas:

Brothers and sisters, let us turn our eyes to Bethlehem, and listen to the first faint cries of the Prince of Peace. For truly Jesus is our peace. The peace that the world cannot give, the peace that God the Father has bestowed on humanity by sending his Son into the world. Saint Leo the Great summed up the message of this day in a concise Latin phrase: Natalis Domini, natalis est pacis: “the Lord’s birth is the birth of peace” (Serm. 26, 5).

Jesus Christ is also the way of peace. By his incarnation, passion, death and resurrection, he has opened the way that leads from a world closed in on itself and oppressed by the dark shadows of enmity and war, to a world that is open and free to live in fraternity and peace. Brothers and sisters, let us follow that road! Yet in order to do so, to be able to walk behind Jesus, we must divest ourselves of the burdens that weigh us down and block our way.

This Christmas, we look with anxious hearts at Bethlehem and all the places where the Lord lived. But because He is the Prince of Peace and He has come to save us, we should remain hopeful that peace will come in our time. As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we should pause with the same awe and wonder with which the shepherds paused on that still, cold night in Bethlehem. We should believe that God has given us the greatest gift we could ever receive because in Christ we have been given all that we need to calm our restless hearts, allay our fears, amplify our joy, and brighten our days. May we take our burdens to the manger and imagine the Newborn King loving us through every joy and challenge.

I am grateful for the gift of each one of you, and will remember you and your loved ones and intentions at all of my Christmas Masses.

Merry Christmas!