Following is the text of Christmas Message 2024 by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, dated December 23, 2024:

 

The Lord’s Nativity is near, and as every year, despite everything we want it to be a moment of peace, joy, and hope. This year, the Nativity also marks the beginning of the Jubilee, a year dedicated to hope. We need hope in this land, marked by so much violence, hatred and wounded by contempt and fear. 

 

The shepherds of Bethlehem, as mentioned in the Gospel, indicate to us how to find hope. 

 

The angel who brings the announcement of the birth of Jesus to the shepherds uses a meaningful expression: he says that a Savior has been born in Bethlehem, and that this Savior is born “for you”. (Luke 2:11) The life of Jesus begins as a life lived for others. He did not come to impose obligations, like the rulers of the earth, like Caesar Augustus, who forced everyone to be enrolled in a census. (Luke 2:1-3) Jesus came to be a sign: “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes.” (Luke 2:12) It is a sign of closeness, of peace, and of a renewed relationship between God and mankind, a sign in a manger, where food is given, in the city of Bethlehem, which means “house of bread”, a sign that nourishes hunger for life. 

 

All the existence of Jesus until the end, will be a life spent for others, until He Himself becomes bread, offered, again, “for you”. (Luke 22:19)

 

The shepherds are told that the Savior is born for them, precisely for them. A Savior has come, and He has come for you. And for you, there is the sign of a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. 

 

His coming is not a generic one, meeting no one personally. He comes to meet each one personally, for this is salvation: a personal encounter, a real and living relationship. 

 

The Gospel also tells us that for this important event in history, the birth of the Savior, there is no place: “She placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Lk 2:7). Jesus enters history this way, as one who cannot find a place, who does not impose Himself, who does not demand, who does not make war to find a place. He accepts not having a place and goes in search of all those who, like Him, have no place in history, like the shepherds. Jesus comes for them, the sign is for them, it is the sign that the Savior wants to save us from the misfortune of having no place. He Himself, His life, becomes the home, the space for all those who have no place. 

 

How can we not think of the many marginalized, for whom it seems there is no place in the world, and also of our many brothers and sisters in this tormented Holy Land, for whom there seems to be no place, dignity, or hope? 

 

 The angel’s announcement must be followed by a response. A decision: to accept or not the angel’s invitation to go and see the Savior. 

 

The response is not obvious. Herod does not move, the elders of Jerusalem do not move. (Matthew 2:1-12)

 

Jesus comes, but does not impose on anyone to set out to go to Him. He does not act like Caesar Augustus, who forces everyone to go and be enrolled in the census. (Luke 2:1-3)

 

Jesus leaves us free. He gives us a sign, but then He leaves it to our freedom.

 

Christmas is the time of choice, whether to set out on a journey toward the One who comes or not. 

 

Even this Christmas, an opportunity is given to us, to make room for the One who cannot find a place, to discover, then, that He Himself is our way, our home, our good bread, our hope.

 

+Pierbattista