Nativity by Giotto
By Vatican News
Dec 19 2022
The birth of Jesus is the most powerful sign and message of hope in a world darkened by the shadows of fear and uncertainty. Each year, Vatican Radio brings you the voices of religious leaders and heads of Christian charitable organizations as they reflect upon the transformative power of the Good News that “Christ is born!”
“In the Incarnation of the eternal Word, God is making an unambiguous public declaration of His love for every human person.”
With our first Message for Christmas 2022, Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, reflects on the “enormous transforming gift of the declaration of God’s love for us” and our response “of generous self-giving.”
Cardinal Vincent Nichols’ Message for Christmas 2022
As we enter into this great feast of Christmas, there is one thought that is going through my mind, and this is it: In the incarnation of the eternal Word, God is making an unambiguous public declaration of His love for every human person.
Of course, God has made manifest that love before, but it’s been some time shrouded in cloud or obscured by his messengers or lost in the complexities of history. But now it is unambiguous. It is clear. It is a public declaration in our flesh, such as perhaps a married couple might make to each other on their wedding day.
So here we have the eternal God wanting to draw us into love, which flows from and back to Him. And this is so important because we can understand that our fulfillment depends, in the end on nothing less than our entry into the love of God and the God the love that God has for us.
So as we contemplate the Christmas scene, we see this an ambiguity of God’s Word, not unapproachable in a palace, but approachable to everybody in a stable. And then we begin to understand that every single word and gesture and deliberate action of Jesus is an unfolding of this single proclamation of God’s love for us.
And so we approach Christmas with a sense of receiving an enormous transforming gift, the gift of the declaration of God’s love for us. And in response, we offer the Lord our love in return.
So my prayer is that, at this Christmas, your hearts will be filled with the realization of this gift of love for you, for me. And our response will be one of generous self-giving in reply.
A happy Christmas to you all. – Vatican News
