During his general audience on Dec. 19, Pope Benedict XVI characterized Advent as a time of joyful expectation as we wait in watchfulness and prayer for the Lord’s coming. This attitude of waiting in joyful hope also means preparing the way for Christ’s coming and welcoming him as the incarnate Son of God, the truth that gives meaning to every human life. The Holy Father emphasized the importance of proclaiming this mystery in all its saving power.

Dear brothers and sisters,

During the past few days, as we draw closer to the great feast of Christmas, the liturgy encourages us to prepare ourselves more intensely by making available to us numerous biblical texts from the Old and the New Testaments in order to motivate us to focus on the significance and value of this annual celebration.

Although Christmas is, on one hand, a commemoration of the incredible miracle of the birth of God’s only-begotten Son, who was born of the Virgin Mary in a cave in Bethlehem, it also exhorts us, on the other hand, to wait in watchfulness and prayer for the Redeemer, who on the last day “will come to judge the living and the dead.”

Perhaps nowadays we — even we believers — are [not] really expecting The Judge; nevertheless, we all expect justice. We see so much injustice in the world — in our own little world of home and neighborhood as well as in the wide world of nations and societies. And we expect that justice will be done.

Justice is an abstract concept: Justice gets done. Concretely, we expect that the one who can do justice will come. It is in this sense that we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus Christ, as Judge. Come as you see fit.” The Lord knows how to come into the world and bring about justice.

We are praying that the Lord, the Judge, will answer our prayer and truly bring about justice in the world. We await justice, but our expectation cannot merely be the expression of a certain demand vis-à-vis others.

Awaiting justice in the Christian sense means that we begin to live under the eyes of the Judge, that we follow the Judge’s criteria, and that we begin to live in his presence, doing justice in our life. Doing justice and putting ourselves in the presence of the Judge is how we really await justice.

This is the meaning of Advent, of this time of watchfulness. This attitude of watchfulness during Advent means living under the eyes of the Judge and preparing ourselves and the world for justice.

So, by living under the eyes of God-who-is-Judge, we can open up the world to the coming of his Son and prepare hearts to welcome “the Lord who comes.”

The Baby the shepherds adored about 2,000 years ago in the cave at Bethlehem never tires of visiting us in our daily lives while we journey as pilgrims toward the Kingdom.

In his expectation, the believer voices the hopes of all mankind. All mankind longs for justice, and, often unconsciously, is waiting for God and awaiting the salvation that only God can give.

For those of us who are Christians, this time of waiting is characterized by assiduous prayer, as is readily apparent in the series of thought-provoking antiphons that are offered for our reflection during the Christmas novena, whether it be during the Mass at the Gospel acclamation or before the Canticle of Mary during our celebration of evening prayer.

Each of these antiphons, which implore the coming of Wisdom, the Sun of Justice and God-With-Us, contains a prayer addressed to “the Desired of the nations” in order to hasten his coming.

However, invoking the gift of the birth of the promised Savior also implies a commitment to preparing the way for him, to preparing a worthy dwelling place for him not only in our surroundings but above all, in our souls.

So, following the lead of John the Evangelist, let us try to turn our thoughts and hearts to the eternal Word, to the Logos, the Word that became flesh and from whose fullness we have received grace upon grace (see John 1:14, 16).

This faith in the Logos who is Creator — in the Word that created the world, in the One who came as a child — this faith and its great hope seem today, unfortunately, to be far from the reality of the life we live from day to day, both in public and in private. This truth seems overwhelming.

We manage the best we can on our own — at least it seems we do. But this makes the world become ever more chaotic and even violent: We see this every day. The light of God, the light of Truth, is being extinguished. Life is becoming dark and aimless.

For this reason, it is all the more important that we truly be believers, and as believers, that we forcefully reaffirm through our lives the mystery of salvation that is part of the celebration of Christ’s birth.

The Light that illuminates our lives was made manifest to the world at Bethlehem; the Way which leads us to the fullness of our humanity was revealed to us. What sense does it make to celebrate Christmas if we do not acknowledge that God has become man?

The celebration becomes empty.

Before all else, we Christians have to reassert with deep and heartfelt conviction the truth of Christ’s birth in order to bear witness to all of our awareness of an unparalleled gift that is a source of richness not only for us but for everyone. Here, too, arises the duty to evangelize — the duty to convey to others this eu-angelion, this “good news.”

All this was reiterated recently in a document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith entitled “Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization,” which I would like to offer to you for your reflection so that you may grow in greater depth both personally and as a community.

Dear friends, in these days of immediate preparation leading up to Christmas, the Church prays more intensely that the hopes for peace, salvation, justice — of which the world today has such urgent need — may become a reality.

Let us pray that violence will be defeated by the power of love, that opposition will give way to reconciliation, that the desire to dominate will be transformed into a desire for forgiveness, justice and peace.

May the wishes for goodness and love that we exchange during these days reach all sectors of our daily lives.

May peace reign in our hearts so that we can be open to the work of God’s grace.

May peace dwell within all families and may they spend Christmas in unity before the manger and the tree decorated with lights.

May the Christmas message of solidarity and acceptance contribute to the creation of a deeper awareness of old and new forms of poverty and of the common good in which we are all called to participate.

May all family members — especially children, the elderly, and the weak — feel the warmth of this feast and may that warmth spread through every day of the year.

May Christmas be a celebration for all of peace and joy: joy for the birth of the Savior, the Prince of Peace.

Like the shepherds, let us hasten on our journey toward Bethlehem. In the heart of the Holy Night, we, too, along with Mary and Joseph, will be able to contemplate the “infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger” (Luke 2:12, 16).

Let us ask the Lord to open our souls so that we can enter the mystery of his birth.

May Mary, who gave her virginal womb to the Word of God, who contemplated the child in her motherly arms and who continues to offer him to everyone as the Redeemer of the world, help us make this Christmas an opportunity for growth in our knowledge and love of Christ.

This is the wish that I warmly extend to you all who are present here and to your families and your loved ones.

Merry Christmas to you all!

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