Register Summary

More than 15,000 pilgrims braved freezing weather to greet Pope Benedict XVI during his general audience in St. Peter’s Square on Dec. 21. The Holy Father spoke about the light of Christmas as a symbol of the goodness that conquers evil.

 Among the many symbols that help us understand Christmas, Pope Benedict said, light is of particular spiritual significance: “It is a symbol that evokes a reality that affects man’s innermost being … the light of goodness that overcomes evil, of love that triumphs over hatred and of life that conquers death.” Jesus, the Holy Father said, is the Rising Sun who comes to enlighten us and guide us to salvation.

The Pope cautioned the faithful to avoid the consumerism that is so rampant in today’s world, especially during the Christmas season.

“As we prepare to celebrate with joy the birth of the Savior in our families and in our Church communities, today’s consumer culture has a tendency to remove Christian symbols from the Christmas celebration,” he pointed out. “Let all of us make a commitment to understand the value of our Christmas traditions, which are part of the legacy of our faith and culture.”

Pope Benedict concluded his catechesis by exhorting the faithful to maintain a sense of wonder within their hearts as they celebrate the Savior’s birth and by wishing all present, along with their friends and family, “a happy and holy Christmas.”

Today’s audience is taking place in an atmosphere of joyful and eager expectation as we await the imminent festivities of Christmas. “Come Lord Jesus!” — this is what we say repeatedly in prayer during this time as we prepare our hearts to experience the joy of the Redeemer’s birth. In particular, during this last week of Advent, the liturgy accompanies and supports our interior journey with repeated invitations to welcome the Savior and to recognize him in the humble Child lying in a manger.

The Symbol of Light

This is the mystery of Christmas, which many symbols help us to understand better. Among these symbols is the symbol of light, which is the symbol that has the richest spiritual significance and on which I would like to reflect briefly. Christmas in our hemisphere coincides with that time of the year when the sun completes its descending cycle and when the period of daylight gradually begins to lengthen in accord with the successive course of the seasons. This helps us to understand better this theme of light that overcomes darkness. It is a symbol that evokes a reality that affects man’s innermost being. I am referring to the light of goodness that overcomes evil, of love that triumphs over hatred, and of life that conquers death. Christmas reminds us of this interior light — of the divine light — which presents to us once again the proclamation of the final victory of God’s love over sin and death. For this reason, the references to light in the course of the Christmas novena we are now making are numerous and significant.

The antiphon that was sung at the beginning of our meeting reminds us of this. The Savior for whom the nations waited is greeted as the “Rising Sun,” the star that shows people the way and guides them — wayfarers amid the darkness and the dangers of the world — toward the salvation that God promised and that Jesus Christ accomplished.

Avoid Consumerism

As we prepare to celebrate with joy the birth of the Savior in our families and in our Church communities, today’s consumer culture has a tendency to remove Christian symbols from the Christmas celebration. Let all of us make a commitment to understand the value of our Christmas traditions, which are part of the legacy of our faith and culture, in order to transmit them to future generations. In particular, when we see the streets and squares of our cities adorned with glittering lights, let us remember that these lights remind us of another light that is invisible to our eyes but not to our hearts. As we admire them and light candles at church or light up the Nativity scene and the Christmas tree in our homes, let us open our souls to the true spiritual light that was brought to all men and women of good will. The God who is with us, who was born in Bethlehem of the Virgin Mary, is the star of our lives!

Come, Lord Jesus!

“O Rising Sun, brightness of eternal light and sun of justice: Come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadows of death.”

As we make this invocation that is found in today’s Liturgy of the Hours, let us ask the Lord to hasten his glorious coming to our midst — to all those who are suffering — since the true expectations of our human hearts will only be satisfied in him. May this star of light that never sets instill in us the strength to always follow the path of truth, justice and love!

Let us live these days that precede Christmas with intensity, along with Mary, the virgin of silence and of listening. May she, who was totally enveloped by the light of the Holy Spirit, help us to understand and fully experience the mystery of Christ’s birth!

It is with this feeling that I exhort you to maintain within you a sense of wonder as you fervently await the birth of the Savior, which is now so near and that I happily wish all of you here present — as well as your families, your communities and your loved ones — a holy and happy Christmas. Merry Christmas to all!

(Register translation)