Christmas 2020: The light of hope shines brightest in darkness - Paolo Ruffini

By Vatican News English Section

Celebrating the birth of the Child Jesus, who brings the light of hope and salvation into the world, the Prefect of the Vatican Dicastery for Communication, Paolo Ruffini, brings his Christmas greetings to all listeners of Vatican Radio and Vatican News.

He reflects on how we may be tempted to think that the coronavirus has taken Christmas - as we know it - away from us...

But perhaps, he continues, we chose the wrong path a long time ago. Perhaps, he says, we are part of "a world that is losing its memory."

Pandemic forcing us to think about the essence of things

Ruffini remarks on the fact that the pandemic is "forcing us to think about the essence of things: choosing – as Pope Francis says – between what matters and what passes away, separating what is necessary from what is not."

He invites us to really think about God who became man, about our presence on earth, about looking ahead in these difficult times, about where we are heading to and what is the true happiness we are looking for...

"So the best wish that we can make to others and to ourselves is to rediscover the we instead of the I, to look forward instead of backward, and to change course for a better time," he says, noting that in "This unpredictable Christmas let's not waste the opportunity that is offered to us!"

Child Jesus and all world's children are promise of the future

Ruffini suggests we look at the Child Jesus and see Him in all the children of the world, "the promise of a future we must not betray," and the sign of hope for a better world to come.

But he also recalls that it is also up to us to rethink the mistakes we have made and learn from the Child Jesus "how to turn the perspective upside down."

No one is saved alone

This years’ experience has taught us many things, he says, but we need to stop thinking "that we can be enough for ourselves, or that we are condemned to fend for ourselves, each on his or her own."

"If only we understood that only together can we save ourselves; that it is from division that anguish is born, that unity conquers fear," he says. "Let us wish for the grace to understand; let us live a merry Christmas. Let us start a new way after this Christmas, just like what happened 2,000 years ago."