Christmas: “The Word was made flesh, he lived among us”

CHRISTMAS 2015

“The Word was made flesh, he lived among us, and we saw his glory, the glory that is his as the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
(Jn. 1:14)

"Finally we reached Bethlehem late in the evening. My God! Was that the place Jesus Christ chose to be born in? I celebrated Mass there the following night; and I was so pleased to remain till morning in this blessed grotto, which forms the delight of heaven. Oh in this grotto in the silence of the night I had the joy of saying several times the prayer composed by St Jerome, which he often recited here: O my soul, it was here in this little hole in the ground that the one who built the heavens was born; here he was wrapped in humble swaddling clothes.”
(St. Daniel Comboni, W 111-112)

Dear Comboni confreres, friends, benefactors and collaborators, greetings from Rome. Our General Council would like to wish you a holy Christmas. We are all united in thanking God, the Emmanuel, for his great gesture of closeness with us and for his great presence through the child born in humility. I wish to pray so:

Yes, oh God, I believe that you are the Emmanuel, God with us, when in our hearts and in our minds we meet you our creator and our origin, when we welcome, accept and love ourselves, and when we open ourselves to meet our brothers and sisters, in our families and on the highways of life.

Yes, oh God the Emmanuel, I believe that you are present when we are in the midst of joy and suffering. I believe that you are with us when we try to promote life rather than death, when we are committed to reconciliation rather than to division. I believe that you are among us when we love one other and try to live in fraternity.

Yes, you are our strength when we live by God’s Mercy, sharing among us God's forgiveness. That you are our hope when we search for the truth, thinking of the Peace that will come and yet is already here among us, of the justice that will reign and yet is already present.

Yes, I believe that we can see your face in the brother who is in need and suffering, who lives on the margins of society; yes, God the Emmanuel, I believe that you dwell in the burned down churches of the persecuted Christian communities, in the grottos of the Sinai refugees, in the grottos of the boats of the immigrants, in the human suburbs, in hospitals, prisons and on the frontiers of the rich nations.

Yes, I believe that you, God the Emmanuel, dwell in the heart of every man and woman living in solitude, in the big cities, in the houses well-stocked, and in the palaces of the powerful... I thank you God because you are a God who is close to us and because you have placed your dwelling in our midst.
Fr. Tesfaye Tadesse Gebresilasie mccj
On behalf of the General Council