The Monthly Note
December 2019
With
this message to the friends of Saint Jude, I have tried to present each
month of the year as a month suitable for hope. November gave me some
problems, but December, with the Christmas festivities; is a
celebration of hope.
The shepherds who were
watching their flocks were the first witnesses to the Good News: «Today
a Saviour has been born to you!». Yes, the great joy was for all, but
it was to the poorest, the lowest ranking of society, to these
shepherds who lived outside society that the angel entrusted the news
of the birth of God-among us. They, the poor, more than any other, went
to give Him a great welcome! They could understand the meaning of a
newborn lying in the manger: God that became one of us, in this state
of weakness and vulnerability that is a newborn! It is for them that
He came, they understood it.
It is our turn to
receive this overwhelming news. It is destined to each and every one
of us. We receive in the midst of our poverties: this is where He
reaches us, this is where He resides.
The world as
it is did not always welcome Him. Wars, injustices, threats to the
environment so many other evils make us often believe that the message
of Christmas does not come across. Yet, at each Christmas, the joy and
peace of the Holiday overwhelms us, we start again to believe in God’s
project for a renewed humanity, of a more fraternal world that all of
us would share in justice. The divisions still split us apart, even
within our families. Nevertheless, Christmas is the feast of the
reconciled human family. We do our best to announce it. Solitude is
the fate of so many people.
Nevertheless, Christmas is the feast of a presence that no one can take away from us.
Our world seems to be aging. Nevertheless, Christmas is the feast
of a God who is always young and who gives us hope.
Gisèle and Tony join me in wishing you a Christmas that will make hope illuminate your hearts,
Raymond Latour, o.p.
Director of the Saint Jude’s Apostolic Works.
