I extend to each one of you, the greeting of the Angels:

Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those He favours. (Luke 2:14)

To begin with, we might ask ourselves: Whom does God favor? The answer is simple. God favours those who are humble, simple and ready to accept Him. We know that: "The shepherds said to one another, `Let us go to Bethlehem and see this event which the Lord has made known to us' "(Lk 2:15). And They hurried away. What a huge difference between these poor shepherds and rich Herod, who, when he knew from the Magi that the "King of the Jews" (Mt 2:2) was born, "was perturbed" . The consequence is also extremely different: "The shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen" (Lk 2:20), meanwhile "Herod was furious … and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or less." (Mt 2:16). Thus, we see that the one who accepts Jesus is happy, on the other hand, they who refuse Him are confused, unhappy and perhaps, angry. What path, then, shall we choose for ourselves?

Jesus chose to accept the Will of God the Father. He was born poor, among the poor. At Christmas, He seems like any other child. Only by faith, do we believe that that new-born Child is the Son of God. Apparently, He shows no particular signs of His divinity. Just as in birth, Jesus' life has been always like that: to obey God, to offer Himself to all, to love all. Christmas is the feast, wherein, we best see the humility of Jesus, "Who, being in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped. But he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming as human beings are, and being in every way like a human being" (Eph 2:6-7). He did not keep any thing for Himself, he gave all what he had. From birth to death, Jesus lived giving His life for others. He came not to rule the nations but only to look for the lost sheep which is every one of us.

His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI said that nobody should fear the power of Jesus because He does not take anything away from the human authorities, so they should not fear Him. He continued by saying that the only things that Jesus takes away from men are divisions, hatred, enemity and all the negative aspects which make society inhuman. This is the reason for Christmas: Jesus takes the form of a slave because He wants to change us from being slaves of sin to being children of God.

Jesus did not abandon us when He ascended into heaven. He gave us the Sacraments and especially the Sacrament of the Eucharist in which He gives Himself freely to all who want to accept Him. Christmas is deeply related to the Eucharist: there is no Eucharist without Christmas, Christmas without Eucharist is nothing and has no meaning at all.

On the occasion of Christmas, many families make a little crib in their homes. It is an important tradition which reminds us all of the humility of Jesus. But the crib can have meaning only if we remain connected with the Eucharist, because, in the crib, we contemplate the birth of Jesus, just as in the Eucharist we celebrate His life offered to the Father for our salvation. I know that you participate in the Eucharist very often, but the Eucharist of Christmas should be a new beginning in our life. We must want to renounce ourselves and like Jesus, offer all we can, in service to others. There is also something else that we can imitate in the humility of Jesus at Christmas: reconciliation! When we reconcile with others, we become the true image of Jesus, Who came and gave His life in order to reconcile us with our heavenly Father. If we don't reconcile with our neighbors, our Christmas is empty, our crib is useless, we refuse Jesus as Herod did.

Dear brothers and sisters, I extend to each of you the peace proclaimed by the Angels, the joy of the shepherds, and above all, the great joy we experience after every reconciliation. This joy is Jesus. I appeal to you to be reconciled to God and to your brothers and sisters (Cfr. 2 Cor 5:20) so that you can be assured that you are among those whom God favours.

My warmest greetings for a meaningful Christmas and a joyful welcoming of the New Year to each and every one of you, especially to those who do not have their families in Kuwait.

Bishop Camillo Ballin, MCCI
Vicar Apostolic of Kuwait