Christmas Greetings

December 23, 2019
Published in Other news items

Christmas Greetings from Br. Roberto Genuin
General Minister
of the Capuchin Friars Minor

Christmas 2019

Dear Brothers,

Christmas 2019 is approaching, and the occasion returns for me to send out my greetings; indeed, my best wishes with which I gladly address each and every one of you.

Several years ago, when I began my service as a Definitor in the Province of Venice, I immediately became aware that there were some things that could hinder our sincerest desire to embrace the Lord. Even then, I realized that the quest for prestige, the dream of power and the deception of money could all eat away at our desire to correspond with the Lord.

So, I think Christmas is a favorable time for us, truly a blessing, because it teaches us something in this regard.

A child has no need of prestige. He doesn’t look for prestige. He stands out by virtue of what he is, just by being there. He elicits the attention of everyone, not only of his father and his mother, Mary and Joseph, but the attention of others around him, from the shepherds to the Magi. He does this on his own accord, and doesn’t need prestige. A child cannot be on a quest for power, since for everything he depends on those who receive him and look after him. Even less, can a child understand something about or be the least bit interested in money or the economy. Therefore … without prestige, without power, without money.

Christmas is a great mystery because it stresses something else. God, in the child born at Bethlehem, speaks to us of the one thing that truly matters, that enriches the story, the global story, the story of each of us, the story within ourselves; that is, the gratuitous love of God. The gratuitous love of God for all, the gratuitous love of God for every one of us. If we accept the gratuitous love of God, we can free ourselves from the many things that unnecessarily weigh us down. Our joy will be able to grow and we will be truer witnesses to the fact that God loves us; he loves all humanity.

My wish is that all of my brothers around the world are happy because they received the Lord Jesus, because they accepted his gratuitous love. I wish for them to be witnesses to the message that God loves man.

To each of you, my brothers, I extend my best wishes for a Merry Christmas!

Br. Roberto Genuin OFMCap
General Minister

(Transcription of the video message)

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