Father General’s greetings: Christmas gives us new eyes
The hardships experienced in 2020 around the
world have been many and heavy to endure... and it is not just because of the
COVID-19 pandemic! The Christmas greetings of Fr. Arturo Sosa inspire us to
discover, with the eyes of faith and commitment, that the Incarnation of God in
Jesus, among us, opens our eyes, our hands, our hearts. With new eyes, we can
see in the Child of Bethlehem the ways of liberation from selfishness and
oppression. Watch the video.
Dear brothers and sisters, Jesuits, companions in the
mission,
dear members of the Ignatian family
Christmas offers us the opportunity to find meaning in the difficulties that the whole of humanity has experienced during this seemingly endless year of 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic comes first to mind, but it cannot make us forget the consequences of wars or the various faces of violence. Nor can it make us forget the inequalities that leave millions of children without food, without school, or expel millions of people from their homes to migrate in search of a better life.
Christmas does not hide the difficulties but allows us to see them with new eyes and to awaken our sensitivity to the abundant testimonies of life that arise in the midst of the storm. As we contemplate the child Jesus, God incarnate, born on the periphery of the world, our eyes are opened to the greatness of small events and we hear the invitation to follow the path undertaken by Mary, Joseph and Jesus. An invitation to become artisans of the new world. Artisans of brotherhood and peace.
The birth of a child is, in all cultures and at all times, a source of happiness for those who receive it as a gift of life, even in the midst of the tensions created by disease, natural disasters, injustice or poverty in every age of humanity. With the newborns there is a renewal of Hope and the desire to build a better future than the present.
The birth of Jesus seals the commitment of love between God and humanity. The birth of the child-God, celebrated year after year, keeps our hearts open to the possibility of "seeing all things new" because we make our own the gaze of Jesus on every person, people and culture.
May Joseph and Mary be our teachers and guides in meeting Jesus. May Joseph and Mary help us to see reality from their experience of the God who manifests Himself in an unsuspected way because for Him nothing is impossible.
May Christmas draw the gaze of each one of you to the wonder of God incarnate in the beauty of a child born to free human history from selfishness and oppression. May it open our eyes to see God Incarnate everywhere, in the heart of the world, and may it also invite us to raise our eyes to heaven in thanksgiving for the Incarnation, the presence of the Emmanuel, God among us.
Merry Christmas!
May Joseph and Mary be with you!
May the good Lord fill you with His blessings!
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