As approach Christmas and the birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ, we only need cast our minds back a few short weeks to the four-day visit to these lands of His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
Cardinal Pizzaballa was visiting to thank the Catholic faithful for their support during these terrible, heart-breaking times of violence and war in the Holy Land. He spoke to the Bishops of England and Wales, and Scotland, as well as politicians and representatives of charities working tirelessly to help the region’s Christians and their neighbours.
The Patriarch was also a guest on our Catholic News podcast channel at the start of Advent, the season of reconciliation and preparedness. His Beatitude encouraged us not to lose a sense of hope as we approach Christmas.
“When we talk about hope, first of all, we have to say what hope is not. We should not confuse hope with solutions – political or social solutions. Hope for us, as Christians, is something different. Hope and faith are connected. Hope, faith, charity, and love are necessarily connected to each other.
“For us, hope, love, and faith, have a name – Jesus Christ.
“When you meet Jesus Christ the redeemer, someone who arrives, enters your life, touches your heart – changes your heart – you are forgiven. You are free from all the bindings of life. The struggles of life remain but something changes in your heart. This concrete hope in your life translates your experience of faith to an encounter with Jesus. Love is the way.
“I spend a lot of time dealing with administration and finance – statements, salaries, buildings, and so on. But at the end, when I meet Jesus, He will not ask me about the finance statements, but what I have done in my life for the other. He will ask you what you have done with the love that the faith brought to you – the encounter, where you met Jesus in your life. This should be the question you ask every day.
“The question of Advent is the question of John the Baptist. When he saw Jesus in the River Jordan, he said, ‘He is the Lamb of God. He is the One.’ But when he was in jail, he was perplexed as Jesus was not doing what he expected Him to do. He wanted someone strong to bring justice but He was not doing anything. He ate with sinners. So John asked ‘Are you the one we were expecting or should we wait for someone else?’ This was his question. What was Jesus’s answer? He told John to look at what was happening. The quotation from Isaiah – the blind are seeing, the prisoners are liberated, and so on.
“Jesus is coming and it’s up to us to have our hearts open to see the signs of His presence.”
