Posted by The WORD in other words (2018) by Fr John Fullenbach SVD – Germany
The Gospel of today reminds us of the beginning of time when God created the world through Jesus, the Word of God. This Word became one of us, born on Christmas day. It is the born Christ in whom creation will reach its final destiny.
Our great hope, belief and trust is in God’s great vision, the Kingdom of God coming true. We should now look at the world with great confidence and hope – the background from which we look backward into the old year and forward into the new.
Many use the past like a warm blanket that envelop themselves. Many people today are filled with fear and anxiety. The wishes and the plea for a peaceful year are probably more than justified.
Paul Claudel once said: “We cannot completely understand the suffering and distress of the world in the face of an infinite loving God, but we can live with it, because He is present in us and in all of this suffering.” In this sense, K. Rahner defined faith: “bear[ing] for a lifetime the incomprehensibility of God in a world that is violent day by day.
”As Christians we can say, there is a place of refuge that can give comfort, courage and strength: the child in the crib, whose birthday of more than 2000 years ago, we have just celebrated.
I wish you all a Happy and Blessed New Year, and some of the peace that God wanted to bring into the world when he became a human being. If the gloomy forecast prognoses of the future takes your breath away, remember what God repeatedly (366 times) says to us in Scripture: “Do not be afraid, for I am with you always” (Isaiah 41,10) and therefore also, in the New Year to come.
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