For Pope, with Jesus’ coming, man’s time, despite its evil content, is a time of Salvation
(January 01, 2011) With Jesus’ birth and the descent into the world of the Eternal,
human time, “although full of evil, suffering and all sorts of tragedies, from those
caused by man’s wickedness to those due to fateful natural events, has come to encompass
in a final and indelible manner the joyous and liberating novelty of Christ the Saviour,”
said the Pope. As the present year ends, the Pope urged everyone to look towards the
future with such hope in mind. In his exhortation for the ‘Te Deum’ of the last day
of the year, pronounced in Saint Peter’s Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI raised “a hymn
of thanks to the Lord for the myriad of graces he gave us, but also and especially
for the one personified Grace, the Father’s living and personal Gift, that of his
favourite Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Precisely, this gratefulness for the gifts received
from God during the time given to us on this earth can help discover the great value
set in time. Marked by annual, monthly, weekly and daily rhythms, it is inhabited
by God’s love, his gifts of grace. It is a time of salvation” because “the eternal
God has come and will stay in man’s time.” Further he said, the Eternal comes into
time to renew its roots, freeing man from sin and making him son of God. Already in
the ‘beginning’, that is at the time of the world’s creation, and man’s creation in
the world, God’s eternity made it possible for time to bloom, for human history to
run, generation after generation.” He told those present that Christmas reminds
us of the ‘fullness’ of time, which brought the salvation to all men through Jesus.
“He reminds us of it, and yet mysteriously but so truly always delivers it to us anew.
At the end of this year, 2010, before leaving its days and hours to God and his just
and merciful judgment, I feel a very strong need in my heart to elevate our thanks
to Him and his love for us,” said the Pontiff. The Pope mentioned some of tasks of
his diocese, that of Rome, in particular highlighting the conclusions reached by the
conference to which he participated. He mentioned of the centrality of the Holy mass
in the life of each Christian community. He called on the parish priests and all priests
to implement the pastoral programme, setting up a liturgical group to animate the
celebration, and the catechesis to help everyone better understand the Eucharistic
mystery, from which stems the witness of charity. While expressing gratitude to God
for the gifts received during the year, and his concern towards the poor, the Pope
mentioned of his visit to the Caritas hostel at Rome’s Termini railway station where,
thanks to the service and generous dedication of numerous volunteers, so many men
and women can touch by hand the love of God. He said “May God, who is boundless love,
kindle the heart of each one us with the charity that led him to give us his One Son.”
. Then echoing the last word of the Te Deum, he said: ‘In te, Domine, speravi: non
confundar in aeternum! O Lord, in you I have trusted: let me never be confounded’.”