A letter from Jacques Gaillot (1st December 1996)


I wish you a Happy Christmas



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At Christmas, our eyes look eastward searching for light, just as the Magi of old who were guided by the star, en route towards places which bear symbolic names : Jerusalem, the city of peace, Bethlehem, the house of bread. Peace is something you build. Bread is something you share. At Christmas we can discover the faces of children and foreigners anew.In the stable, at Bethlehem, the child shows the fulness of its dignity. It is the meeting point of God and human beings. The God child is offered to everyone in its frailty.

So much has to be done for children's rights to be kept.The foreigner becomes ennobled by the child of Bethlehem. Jesus was born while his parents were on a journey. It was in a town where there was no room for a couple passing by. It is the fate of so many foreigners who only find rejection wherever they go.

The child and the foreigner are messages. They reveal our real selves and introduce us to the mystery of Christmas. God takes our human condition and appears as a child. He does not abandon us to loneliness and despair. He is with us everyday.

I wish you a happy Christmas with all my heart. May the loving peace of God be with you every day to come.

 



Jacques Gaillot
Bishop of Partenia