Christmas 2021

Blessed are you who have believed! (Lk 1,45)

The beatitude that the evangelist Luke puts on the lips of Elizabeth to congratulate Mary is, surely, a beatitude that we can feel addressed to us, Christians of the 21st century.

Blessed are we who, after so many years, believe that the Father gives us his Son, and that his Holy Spirit remains with us, opening for us paths of hope, justice and solidarity in order to continue to maintain our faith that our world is God's world, in spite of our resistance to accept his offer as a gesture of love.

Blessed are we who go through these times of pandemic with a hopeful attitude, without allowing ourselves to be overcome by the pessimism caused by our hospitals overcrowded with patients because of COVID-19.

Blessed are we, the workers of the European continent who, despite so many contradictions, believe that justice will break through to give birth to a Europe open to the dignity of the sons and daughters of God.

Blessed are we, activists of the movements that make up the ECWM, who work together in different projects, campaigns and actions to collaborate with other Christians and people of good will to make our old Europe live up to its best wishes for justice, equity, equality, freedom, respect, welcome and fraternity.

Blessed are we if we fight to ensure that no violence against women, no abuse of children, no abuse of the smallest and weakest, is ever imposed or justified.

Blessed are we if we fight so that everyone can have a job, and a decent job, fairly paid, and which allows all workers to combine their work with their family and leisure life.

Blessed are we if we work together with our fellow citizens to protect our respective countries from all the pollution and harmful emissions that harm our planet, and demand that our governments take the lead in proposing policies to protect the environment.

Blessed are we if we open our hearts to receive Jesus, the Son of God. Blessed are we if Christmas is for us a saving event. Happy if we believe that the birth of Jesus, Messiah and Christ, changes us and impels us to work with Him to make our world the new heaven and the new earth that He dreamed of.

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!