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Homily of Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa for Christmas 2018

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Homily of Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa for Christmas 2018 MMXVIII 4TH QUARTER Pope encourages committed Equestrian Order Lieutenants to invoke Our Lady’s protection. Photo: Servizio Fotografico L’Osservatore Romano. CHRISTMAS NIGHT 2018 Homily of Archbishop CONTENTS Pierbattista Pizzaballa for 1 • HOMILY OF ARCHBISHOP PIZZA- BALLA FOR CHRISTMAS 2018 Christmas 2018 4 • 2018 REFLECTION 5 • CHRISTMAS LETTER 7 • VIDEO WALL • OUR DECEASED MEMBERS 8 • VISIT OF THE CARDINAL 9 • WELCOME MESSAGE 10 • 2018 CONSULTA 12 • VATICAN NEWS 13 • WELCOME MESSAGE 14 • HELPFUL LINKS AND DETAILS READ MORE AT PAGE 2 EDITOR GRAND MASTER VISIT CALENDAR We welcomed the visit of the Grand Master HE Cardinal Edwin Frederick O’Brien to the Queensland Lieutenancy. READ MORE AT PAGE 8 Mass at St. Patrick’s Church 9 AM 1ST SUNDAY OF THE MONTH 2018 CONSULTA With Brunch Lieutenants from around 40 countries attended the five-year as- sembly of the Order of the Holy Sepulcher in Rome, gathered around Jerusalem Day the Grand Master, Cardinal O’Brien. READ MORE AT PAGE 10 16TH MARCH MR. SIMON MILTON KHS VATICAN NEWS National Retreat 17TH - 19TH MAY 0448 350 272 Pope Francis encourages the knights and dames to root their chari- Brisbane simon.milton.eohsj table works in prayer and to assist persecuted Christians. @gmail.com READ MORE AT PAGE 12 • 2 • 3 CHRISTMAS NIGHT 2018 CHRISTMAS NIGHT 2018 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 “Jesus comes to live in our city.” Allow me, then, tonight, to turn an active and focused Dear brothers and sisters, beloved faithful of our Jerusalem diocese, dear look at our cities and our way of inhabiting them. In the pilgrims from all over the world and all who, on this holy night, are con- light of the Eternal Word, Who comes to dwell among nected with us through the many means of communication: each of us, us, I would like to pause with you in contemplating this gathered together in this place, feels called to Bethlehem, the city where our Savior, Who is Christ the Lord, was born! “divine dwelling,” to welcome, to convert and uplift “the human dwelling.” “Jesus was born in Bethlehem” (Mt 2:1): This is not only an historical-geographical indication but a divine The dwelling of Christ among us was, above all, an act of choice. Being born here, in a particular place, in a city of love. He shared our life in everything except sin (cf. Heb this land is what God has always wanted, as He loves the 4:15). He “went about doing good and healing” (Acts cities of men. If the Bible begins in a Garden, then it ends 10:38): He entered our houses, ate at our tables, drank in a city, the holy Jerusalem. And the very life of Christ, our wine, walked through our streets, played with our which begins here, from birth to death, will be a contin- children, rejoiced at our holidays and wept for our dead. uous journey through cities and villages: the desert was, He did not choose separation and distance, nor did He for Him, a necessary, but not definitive, pause. love isolation and remoteness. His ¬¬¬was a style of sharing and communion, participation and presence. Bethlehem, Nazareth, Cana, Capernaum, Jerusalem, are His disciples, we Christians, cannot but follow in His names dear to our hearts, because they are names of cit- footsteps. If it is true that we do not have here a lasting ies Jesus loved. And after Him, the Apostles continued to city but walk towards the future one (cf. Heb 13:14), it is cities open and hospitable, where everyone can find a many sufferings that afflict our people. We would like pass through many others: Corinth, Ephesus, Thessalon- also true that we have been asked to “stay in the city” (cf. home, a job, a worthy and good life. We ask the Child that, thanks to the good will of all, God can continue to ica, Antioch, Rome. Lk 24:49) to unfold in it the ways of the Kingdom. of Bethlehem and His Parents who came here looking live in our cities. for lodging, to help us stay in the city; we ask for help to A journey that continues in our cities today, guarded and continue being, like them, the presence of peace in this And therefore we hope that our cities are truly holy, not enlivened by His presence: “Behold, I am with you all land. Because our cities without Christians will be more only and not so much for the dearest memory preserved days, until the end of the world” (Mt 28:20). impoverished and our Christians without their cities in the stones, but because of the life that lives in them. risk losing the way. The Lord, born among us, has placed the beginning of Our God is a God of the city, Who lives in cities because the Kingdom on earth and its promised fulfillment in He is a God with men, Immanuel; His Word is not lim- We recognize that in this same city the Holy Family ex- the Jerusalem of Heaven. Our Christmas celebration ited to a private or solely personal religious proposal. He perienced rejection, closed doors, and the blind violence is not a simple commemoration, but the effective an- seeks and wants to occupy and to transform a street, a of Herod. It is always possible that the people of God nouncement that what began here in Christ’s Birth will house, a city. Whoever wants to confine the Gospel or do not recognize Jesus and do not receive Him (cf. Jn find complete realization when He returns. the presence of Christians within private or intimate 1:11). Coming to dwell among us, the Lord also reveals borders, has not understood the desire of God. the contradiction (cf. Lk 2:34) of our often different and In the expectation of His coming, we build our cities. It overbearing dwelling place. The beloved city is also the would be good if they were not an expression of power The Incarnation of the Son of God is a leaven, a yeast city that makes Him weep (cf. Lk 19:41) and a place or claim like Babel, but a house of prayer and meeting that is destined to grow and mix together all the ingredi- where the roads of triumph are quickly transformed for all peoples, from now on (see Isaiah 56:7). We want, ents, the entire reality of man, the universe and history, into a way of the cross, a way of sorrows. The cities of then, to watch together with the pastors, so that we may life and city. On this night, celebrating the birth of Christ in Bethle- men can be turned into battlefields, places of confron- reach the promise of Salvation and proceed on pathways hem, we proclaim, together with the angels, love for this tation and oppression, injustice and violence. His voice of goodness. Like the Magi, we want to look to the Star of The Birth of Christ in Bethlehem is, therefore, God’s step land, for its cities; we want to respond to the vocation and, even more so, His Life, then as today, ask and offer Bethlehem and to welcome the grace and enduring love towards our land and our cities, and the invitation to go received to be here as architects of peace, prophets of a possibility of change that does not progress through of our God to return to our cities “by another way” (Mt to Bethlehem, already addressed to the shepherds and hope, convinced and convincing witnesses of sharing the path of sterile protest or violent opposition, but pro- 2:12), for a new way that would render our living new. the Magi, is repeated to us today, and from there to go and dialogue. poses and testifies to us the way of humble and concrete Tonight, we ask Christ the Lord, born in Bethlehem, to the extreme limits of the earth. The birth of the Lord in service. We would then like that in our town squares give us the grace and the strength to transform our cities our cities wants to ignite within us a sort of “political With Jesus, we want to inhabit this land, not to aban- and our homes, through our speech and our witness, the into His Kingdom, to travel with Him the ancient and passion,” awakening the responsibility of caring for the don it. We want to share the pains and anguish, the joys Gospel would continue to transform our coexistence, ever new way of faith, love, and hope until from heaven, city and the land where we live. Not to own or occupy it, and hopes, and that all walk together on the path of sal- our relationships, our choices, our lives. We ask that His the new city will descend, where God will dwell with us but to transform it from a simple urban area of private vation. We declare ourselves prepared for every effort, Word and our prayer be heard in the hearts of those who and we with him forever. Amen! services and personal interests, to an area and place that every commitment, and any initiative that makes our hold political and social authority. We no longer want to provides the experience of communion, peace, relation- weep on account of rejection, extreme poverty, and the Pierbattista ship and sharing. READ MORE AT PAGE 3 December 24 • 4 • 5 2018 REFLECTION CHRISTMAS LETTER 2018 As the year winds down: why not stop, reflect and find space? I want to honour your work, your life in the past 12 months and your service to others in 2018.
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