{"id":351,"date":"2007-12-20T10:21:28","date_gmt":"2007-12-20T10:21:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/viamedia\/2007\/12\/christ-our-hope.html"},"modified":"2007-12-20T10:21:28","modified_gmt":"2007-12-20T10:21:28","slug":"christ-our-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/12\/christ-our-hope.html","title":{"rendered":"Christ our Hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

The official website for the Pope’s visit to the US.<\/a>
\nCatholic University has its own site, as well.<\/a>
\nThe Pope’s words at yesterday’s General Audience:<\/a>
\n(The first part of the homily dealt powerfully with justice and the Coming of Christ)<\/p>\n

This faith in the Creator Logos, in the Word that created the world, in the one who came like a Child, this faith and its great hope seem to be far from our daily public and private reality. It seems this truth is too great. We manage the best we can, so it seems at least. But the world is becoming more chaotic and violent: We witness this every day. And the light of God, the light of Truth, is put out. Life becomes dark and without a compass.
\nIt is therefore very important that we are true believers, and as believers, that we reaffirm forcefully, with our lives, the mystery of salvation that comes with the celebration of Christ’s birth! In Bethlehem, the Light which illumines our life was made manifest to the world; the Way which leads to the fullness of our humanity was revealed to us. What sense does it make to celebrate Christmas if we don’t acknowledge that God has become man? The celebration becomes empty.
\nBefore all else, we Christians have to reassert with deep and heartfelt conviction the truth of Christ’s birth in order to bear witness before all the awareness of an unparalleled gift that enriches not only us, but everyone.
\nThe duty of evangelization is to convey this “eu-angelion,” the “good news.” This was recalled by the document of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith titled “Doctrinal Note on Some Aspects of Evangelization,” which I would like to offer for your reflection and personal as well as communal study.
\nDear friends, in these days of preparation leading up to Christmas the prayer of the Church intensifies, so that the hopes for peace, salvation, justice, and all that the world urgently needs, be made a reality. We ask God that violence be defeated by the power of love, that opposition be replaced by reconciliation, that the desire to dominate be transformed into desires for forgiveness, justice and peace.
\nMay the wishes of kindness and love that we exchange in these days reach all sectors of our daily lives. May peace be in our hearts, so that we can be open to the action of God’s mercy. May peace live in all families and may they spend Christmas united before the crib and the tree decorated with lights. May the Christmas message of solidarity and welcome contribute to create a deeper sensibility toward old and new types of poverty, and toward the common good that we are all called to share.
\nMay all family members, especially the children and the elderly — the weakest ones — feel the warmth of this feast, and may that warmth spread out through every day of the year. May Christmas be a celebration of peace and joy: joy for the birth of the Savior, Prince of peace. Like the shepherds, we hasten our steps toward Bethlehem. In the heart of the Holy Night we will be able to contemplate the “infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger,” together with Mary and Joseph (Luke 2:12,16).
\nWe ask the Lord to open our soul, so that we can enter the mystery of his birth. May Mary, who gave her virginal womb to the Word of God, who contemplated the child between her arms, and who offers him to everyone as the Redeemer of the world, help us make next Christmas a moment of growth in the knowledge and love of Christ. This is the wish that I warmly extend to you all, to your families and your dear ones.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The official website for the Pope’s visit to the US. Catholic University has its own site, as well. The Pope’s words at yesterday’s General Audience: (The first part of the homily dealt powerfully with justice and the Coming of Christ) This faith in the Creator Logos, in the Word that created the world, in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nChrist our Hope - Via Media<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/viamedia\/2007\/12\/christ-our-hope.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christ our Hope - Via Media\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The official website for the Pope’s visit to the US. 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The Catholicism comes from her side. Amy grew up in a number of places - Indiana - Washington, DC - Lubbock Texas - Arlington, Virginia - DeKalb, Illinois - Lawrence, Kansas - and Knoxville, Tennessee, where the family settled in 1973. She attended Knoxville Catholic High School, then the University of Tennessee where she majored in history. She received an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, where she wrote a thesis on the changing role of women in 19th century American Protestantism, and the ways Scripture was used to justify those changes. She worked as as a teacher in Catholic high schools and a Parish Director of Religious Education and started writing for the diocesan press - the Florida Catholic - in 1988. Amy has written columns for Our Sunday Visitor and Catholic News Service at times over the past twenty years. Her articles have been published in venues ranging from Our Sunday Visitor to the New York Times to Commonweal. She has written 17 books. 18, if you included the as yet tragically unpublished novel. Amy has five children, ranging in age from 26 to 4 and was married to Michael Dubruiel, who died unexpectedly in February 2009. 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