Dear brothers and sisters!
This year too, I was thinking about what to write, what kind of message to send for Christmas… I would like the Christmas to be exactly what the word itself says: a day full of God, a day in which we will place everything before the little God, before Jesus who is waiting for us in the manger. Let us place before Him all of our sorrows and joys, all of our worries and hopes, all of our insecurities and decisions. Let us put our whole lives before Him. Let us bow down to Him and in that gift, let us surrender ourselves to Him. He was given to us. He is a Gift. Let us give ourselves to Him. Let us give Him to others. Let the whole world feel at Christmas that God has visited His people!
Let us make our way to the manger, together with St. Francis of Assisi, with tears in our eyes, let us thank the Lord for becoming one of us, for being incarnated in order to redeem us. When St. Francis prepared a nativity scene in Greccio, then at the end he pointed to the altar and they celebrated the Christmas mass: there is Jesus, there He is being born again and again, there he attends us. Every Eucharist contains the joy of Christmas, the joy and strength of salvation. Therefore, this Christmas, let us all joyfully celebrate the Eucharist, let us sing to our Lord, honor the Holy Mother of God, and congratulate each other this Christmas with our whole hearts, in words and deeds!
May you all have blessed Christmas and the holy birth of Jesus!
Christmas 2023
Br. Zvonimir Pavičić
