Christmas 2023: Let us see enemies as brothers and sisters
Vatican news
The birth of Jesus is the most powerful sign and message of hope in a world darkened by the shadows of fear and uncertainty. For Christmas 2024, at the start of the Jubilee of Hope, Vatican Radio asked Catholic leaders for their thoughts on the theme “The peace of Christ in a war-torn world.” Today’s message comes from Dominican Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe.
Christmas message from Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP
Today the world is seething with violence, more so than at any time since the end of World War II, when I was born.
This anger breaks out in wars between nations, but also within societies.
Social networks fuel anger. Anger attracts readers and thus brings in money. Even the Church is filled with violent accusations.
Jesus also grew up in a country torn apart by violence. As a child, he would surely have seen the crucified bodies of the 2,000 Jewish rebels horribly killed by the Roman occupiers. And yet, it was a man without violence who asked us to turn the other cheek.
How can we learn from him?
Violence is born from fear so that we do not see the other as a fragile human being, capable of loving and hurting like us.
Fear makes us see enemies.
But fear not, for on Easter, love won. Hate has been defeated.
Let us free ourselves from the slavery of those who respond to anger with anger. We are free to say that the violence stops with me, as it stopped with our Lord on Good Friday.
We must reclaim our Christian freedom to start again.
Jesus saw the hidden dignity and goodness of the sick, the prostitutes, his enemies, and even the Roman occupiers.
Let us open our eyes to see those we consider enemies. If we do, we will see brothers and sisters created in the image and likeness of God.
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