A credible witness to truth and to the values of the Gospel is urgently needed.

Jesus is the one who brings God to us and us to God.

Instead of seeming to impose new obligations, they should appear as people who wish to share their joy, who point to a horizon of beauty and who invite others to a delicious banquet. It is not by proselytizing that the Church grows, but by attraction.

To all of you, I repeat: Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope! Do not let yourselves be robbed of hope! And not only that, but I say to us all: let us not rob others of hope, let us become bearers of hope!

The search for God means having the courage to set out on a risky path, it means following our restless hearts.

Like Mary, may we nurture the light born within us at Christmas. May we carry it everywhere in our daily lives.

As Christians, we have an additional reason to love and serve the poor; for in them we see the face and the flesh of Christ, who made himself poor so to enrich us with his poverty.