he Lord be with you!

e are preparing … to celebrate the solemnity of Christmas. He came into the world to give us His peace, 'a peace which the world cannot give' (Jn.14:27)

hat is this peace of the world?

veryone says that they want a peaceful world without war but peace cannot come from weapons, violence and massacres. We cannot have peace when we destroy our enemy. Christ has been clear: 'I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you' (Mt.5:44). Peace cannot be the fruit of our human strength and power. The world cannot give us a lasting peace. Many personal, national and international interests will interfere and the peace that we wanted to establish will grow into a monster, a monstrosity of innocent people being exploited, tricked, robbed and killed.

ery often, peace of the world involves discrimination, be it social, political, racial or religious. I want to be in peace, to live only with those who are like me and to avoid communication with those who are not at my level or share my religious experience or belong to another country or another group. When I discriminate, I consider myself better than the others. Jesus Christ said: 'You are all brothers' (Mt.23:8). St. Paul also reminds us: 'Do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves' (Ph.2:3).

inally, peace of the world means that I must get whatever I want: social position and success, sex, money, vengeance. I think that if all this is ensured I will live in peace.

y brothers and sisters, these are some kinds of peace that the world is able to give us. We realize that this cannot be called peace, it is only the dominion of Satan over us. We cannot be peacemakers when we are dominated by violence, discrimination and hedonism (our bad possessions). When we are under the power of the world, we are not children of God and therefore we cannot be peacemakers, Jesus said: 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God' (Mt.5:9).

rue peace is another thing. It is first of all a gift from God: 'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you' (Jn.14:27). Many times in our life, we experience that without Jesus we can do nothing, as He said: 'Without Me you can do nothing' (Jn.15:5). So, peace is a gift which must be asked constantly from God.

he Peace of God can be summarized in one word, one Name: JESUS! He is our peace. He is the Son of God, born of the Virgin Mary; our Master, our Savior, our Life, our Hope, our End! With Him we live in the world differently: we love our enemies, consider every man our brother, every woman our sister. The richness of this world is not an essential thing for us because we have already the One Who is the Essential Person for us, it is He! Jesus is the gift of God our Father to us and He will remain with us during our pilgrimage on earth ('I am with you always, until the end of the age' (Mt.2:20) and forever: 'Father, ... I wish that where I am they also may be with Me' (Jn.17:24).

ut at the same time, Jesus cannot let us remain the sinful creatures that we are, because He is our Bridegroom and He wants to make us perfect and beautiful for God's Kingdom. So, He asks us to allow Him to purify our hearts, to change it, to convert our lives from a life of sin to a life of Grace, from slavery to the freedom of God's children. We can really celebrate Christmas if we recognize that we are sinners and therefore in need of the Savior. Otherwise our joy for the solemnity of Christmas will only be external, built on sand and not on rock (cfr. Mt.7:25-25).

ear Brothers and Sisters, this is my first message to you. I wish with all my heart that you find peace in your life, in your family and in your work. I wish you the peace of Christ, so that you may experience the joy of being His disciples, His very own. May Jesus Christ fill you with endless hope and joy. I wish His peace to you, also, to your families who are near or far away, your children, parents, relatives, friends and especially to those of you who are sick. I say to each and everyone of you: The Peace of Christ be with you!!