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Christmas, a festival of light and peace
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!
Roma
In a letter to Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (Foundress of the Religious of the Assumption) on December 14, 1868, our founder Emmanuel d'Alzon wrote: "It seems to me that nothing is so admirable as to take advantage of the Church's feasts to bring Jesus Christ to birth in souls in a more perfect way each year, and then to grow and develop in imitation of the divine Master living in us." For Emmanuel d'Alzon, the feast of Christmas was central. The mystery of the Incarnation occupies a special place in his spirituality.
He can be seen expressing his disappointment at not being able to celebrate his first mass on Christmas Day 1834, because he was not ordained a priest until the following day. Here is what he said to his father on the very day of his ordination: "I was unable, therefore, to say my Mass on Christmas Day, as I had hoped. It will be tomorrow, St. John's Day, that I will go to the altar for the first time." (Letter to his father, December 26, 1834.) It's also impressive that many important events took place during the Christmas season. These included the beginning of our congregation (1845), his first religious profession (1850) and his perpetual profession (1851). What's more, he was declared Venerable on December 21, 1991.
In wishing you a Merry Christmas, I'm not fulfilling a ceremonial task. I am convinced, following in the footsteps of our founder, that the triple incarnation of Jesus Christ, born in the crib, on the altar and in our souls, is a mystery that should absorb all of us, every day. This Christmas season is an opportune time to remind ourselves of this, and to commit ourselves to it even more. In a letter, Fr. d'Alzon wrote: "I am very concerned to encourage some people to give themselves to Our Lord, especially for the feast of Christmas.
In an address to the Roman Curia to present Christmas greetings for 2005, Pope Benedict XVI said that the Nativity is a feast of light and peace. Unfortunately, some people will spend this feast in conditions of darkness and violence, far from home. Like those displaced by war. A sad reality confronts us with "a system of evil", as Pope John Paul II put it.
"This is the time of longing
When man learns his indigence,
A way dug to welcome
He who comes to fill the poor."
"Behold the time of longing" is one of the hymns we've been singing this Advent season. Yes, a reminder for us. True Light and true Peace come from God. So, we were right to say almost every day, "Come, Lord, do not delay." This is the time to persevere in hope, because, as we sing in the same hymn: God is present in our waiting. Christmas, a time of light and peace. Let us be penetrated by the rays of light that come from the crib.
As this feast day approaches, I'd like to wish each of you a Merry Christmas, and a spiritual renewal based on the exercise of the virtues of poverty, obedience, simplicity and so on. This was also Father d'Alzon's wish to the Religious of the Assumption (which also applies to us) in a letter that I quote:
"I want to wish you a happy Christmas (...) At the same time, I wish you five virtues, which seem to me to be the main rays that spring from the birth of Jesus, in the humility of his manifestation. He allows himself to be swaddled by his mother, to be carried and turned in every direction, to teach us obedience. Mary gave birth to Him in a stable, after all the gates of Bethlehem had closed on her: an excellent lesson in accepting human scorn. What could be simpler than a child? I hope you become one, like Jesus in the cradle. Why does he appear in the world? Out of love for the glory of his Father and the salvation of mankind. Such is the sublime lesson of charity he gives in his first moment." (Letter to the Religious of the Assumption, December 17, 1854)
We are therefore called to receive the light and peace that Emmanuel (God with us) gives us, and to be witnesses to it around us. But to recognize and accept this light, we must first recognize our own darkness. This is why D'Alzon never ceased to call his brothers and sisters to humility: an indispensable virtue for every Assumptionist, he said. In the correspondence quoted above, Emmanuel d'Alzon speaks of the humility of our Lord's manifestation. Whatever our way of bearing witness to the true light and peace of Christ, we can do so through a presence that is not triumphant, but real and effective.
With Christmas also comes the feeling of a year coming to an end. But that's not without wishes for a good, happy new year, in which we'll achieve our goals. Which goals?
I'll end with this prayer from our founder: "O my God, give me light, to see what I lack; strength, to acquire the virtues I don't have!"
Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!
Ngoa Ya Tshihemba, a.a, Supérieur Général