Your Sins Are Forgiven

The photograph on the left wall shows Saint John Paul II speaking with Mehmet
Ali Agca in his prison cell. The late Holy Father was convinced that
Mary's intercession saved his life after the assassination attempt in 1981.

Saint John Paul II was a man of great holiness. Our new permanent exhibit, A Gift of Love: The Life of Saint John Paul II, is filled with evidence of this. Like Christ, the late Holy Father inspired hope in others, he lead them, and he preached the Good News.

He also forgave. One of the most moving parts of our exhibit calls pilgrims to reflect upon the moment in which John Paul visited Mehmet Ali Ağca, the man who made an attempt on his life. During the Christmas octave 31 years ago, John Paul II reconciled with Ali Ağca, treating him as a person worthy of love and respect.

Let us ask the Christ child to give us the grace to be like Saint John Paul II this Christmastide, in reconciling ourselves with God and with others. 

St. Stephen, Pray for Us

Today we celebrate the feast of Saint Stephen, the first martyr of the Church. His martyrdom is described in the first reading for today, and while it is a sad account, it is also appropriate to the joy of Christmastide. For Stephen’s death was actually a new birth, one made possible by the birth of Christ. As Saint John Paul II said on this day in 2003:

The Church calls the day of martyrdom a dies natalis (birthday). Indeed, by virtue of Christ's death and Resurrection, the death of the martyr is a birth in Heaven. This is why it is so meaningful to celebrate the First Martyr the day after Christmas: Jesus who was born in Bethlehem gave his life for us so that we too, reborn “from on high” through faith and Baptism, might be willing to give up our own lives for love of our brothers and sisters.

St. Stephen, please pray for us, that we may receive whatever grace we need to offer the gift of ourselves to God and others during this season of giving.

Good News Of Great Joy

Descendit de caelis Salvator mundi. Gaudeamus!

The Saviour of the world has come down from heaven. Let us rejoice!

This proclamation, filled with deep rejoicing,

echoed in the night of Bethlehem.

Today the Church renews it with unchanged joy:

the Saviour is born for us!

A wave of tenderness and hope fills our hearts,

together with an overpowering need for closeness and peace.

In the crib we contemplate the One

who stripped himself of divine glory

in order to become poor, driven by love for mankind.

Beside the crib the Christmas tree,

with its twinkling lights,

reminds us that with the birth of Jesus

the tree of life has blossomed anew in the desert of humanity.

The crib and the tree: precious symbols,

which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas!

In the heavens there echoes the proclamation of the angels:

"To you is born in the city of David

a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2:11).

What wonder!

By being born in Bethlehem, the Eternal Son of God

has entered into the history of each person

living on the face of the earth.

He is now present in the world

as the one Saviour of humanity

For this reason we pray to him:

Saviour of the world, save us!

Save us from the great evils which rend humanity

in these first years of the third millennium.

Save us from the wars and armed conflicts

which lay waste whole areas of the world,

from the scourge of terrorism

and from the many forms of violence

which assail the weak and the vulnerable.

Save us from discouragement

as we face the paths to peace,

difficult paths indeed, yet possible and therefore necessary;

paths which are always and everywhere urgent,

especially in the Land where You were born,

the Prince of Peace.

And you, Mary, the Virgin of expectation and fulfillment,

who hold the secret of Christmas,

make us able to recognize in the Child

whom you hold in your arms the heralded Savior,

who brings hope and peace to all.

With you we worship him and trustingly say:

we need You, Redeemer of man,

You who know the hopes and fears of our hearts.

Come and stay with us, Lord!

May the joy of your Nativity reach

to the farthest ends of the universe!

-Saint John Paul II

The staff of the Saint John Paul II National Shrine wishes you and your families a blessed Christmas!

These Young Friends

As we begin to wrap up Christmas decorations, finish those leftover cookies, and write the final thank you notes, many of us are grateful that the normal routine of Ordinary Time is here. Celebrating the Incarnation is something joyous that we all look forward to, but our celebrations carry with them much traveling, cooking, and work around the house. The adults are ready to move on.

Children, on the other hand, are less willing to wave goodbye to their favorite time of year. It’s not just going back to school that saddens them. Nor is it the fact that no gifts remain under the tree. There is something about the mystery, the comfort, and the joy of Christmas that they will miss singing in their hearts.

In his 1994 “Letter to Children,” Blessed John Paul II recognizes how special Christ’s birth is to young ones. It is “the feast day of a Child,” and so children know that it is their feast day too. He wrote:

In what happened to the Child of Bethlehem you can recognize what happens to children throughout the world. It is true that a child represents the joy not only of its parents but also the joy of the Church and the whole of society.

The Life Was Made Visible

Beloved:
What was from the beginning,
what we have heard,
what we have seen with our eyes,
what we looked upon
and touched with our hands
concerns the Word of life —
for the life was made visible;
we have seen it and testify to it
and proclaim to you the eternal life
that was with the Father and was made visible to us—
what we have seen and heard
we proclaim now to you,
so that you too may have fellowship with us;
for our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
We are writing this so that our joy may be complete.

-1 John 1:1-4

Happy Feast of Saint John the Evangelist!

To Us A Child Is Born

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given" (Is 9:5).

The words of the Prophet Isaiah, proclaimed in the First Reading, contain the truth of Christmas, which together we re-live this night.

A Child is born. In appearance, just another of the world’s many children. A Child is born in a stable in Bethlehem. He is born in a condition of extreme deprivation: poor among the poor.

But the One who is born is "the Son" par excellence: Filius datus est nobis. This Child is the Son of God, of one being with the Father. Foretold by the Prophets, he was made man by the power of the Holy Spirit in the womb of a Virgin, Mary.

When, shortly, we shall sing in the Creed "... et incarnatus est de Spiritu Sancto ex Maria Virgine et homo factus est," we shall all kneel. We shall meditate in silence on the mystery which is accomplished: "Et homo factus est!" The Son of God comes among us, and we receive him on our knees.

"The Word became flesh" (Jn 1:14). On this extraordinary night the Eternal Word, the "Prince of Peace" (Is 9:5), is born in the lowly and cold cave of Bethlehem.

The Continent of the Family

The Blessed John Paul II Shrine is full of life during this Christmas Octave. Lights are dancing, green trees are sparkling, and visitors are filled with hopeful anticipation of the work to come—particularly the exhibit on the life and legacy of Blessed John Paul II. 

The Shrine is currently hosting another exhibit, which is especially meaningful today on this Feast of the Holy Family. Nearly 100 African Crèches, or Nativity scenes, are on display at the Shrine, as well as other statues and artwork from 23 African countries and tribes. This Christmas Across Africa Exhibit includes wood and stone sculptures, Coptic icons, banana leaf Nativity scenes, polished stones, and papyrus paintings. The beautiful statue of the Holy Family in the picture above comes from Zimbabwe and was carved from black serpentine stone.

It is fitting, of course, to have crèches on display during the Christmas season. It is even more fitting to have these particular crèches on display at the Blessed John Paul II Shrine, for the late Holy Father was very fond of the young and vibrant Church of Africa. He traveled to African countries quite often, and he found that the Christian sprit was very much alive there, especially in African families. In a homily given during his 1995 visit to Kenya, John Paul II said:

In the past I have been able to visit most of these countries, meeting the great African family of peoples. Where it has not yet been possible I hope some day to go. The question is often asked: why does the Pope visit Africa so often? One reason stands out: Africa is the continent of the family, and the future of the Church’s evangelizing mission passes through the family.

This “Christmas Across Africa” Exhibit reminds us that Africa is “the continent of the family,” where the Holy Family stands as a model for love and evangelization. In that same homily, Blessed John Paul II said, “In transmitting the Gospel spirit, Christian families have a perfect model in the Holy Family of Nazareth.” With his trust, patience, and courage, St. Joseph protected and provided for the Blessed Mother and the Son of God. The Blessed Mother humbly nurtured the Son of God and led Him to His true purpose in the Father. As a Son, Jesus brought Mary and Joseph together in love and carried them both to Eternal Life with the Father.

Bringing God to the Godless

God never abandons His people. We celebrate this today, on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord. It is Christmas, the day of the Incarnation, the day the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (Cf. John 1:14). Let us rejoice and be glad in this Revelation, this loving gift from Our Father in Heaven. And let us respond by making the Word made flesh known to the world.

Blessed John Paul II, the founder and model of the New Evangelization, did this in many ways. He proclaimed the Truth throughout his pontificate, witnessing to Christ’s love and spreading It throughout the world. His mission to bring God to the Godless was not something that began during his papacy, though. This is something that he did throughout his whole life!

Take for example, a Christmas story from his time as auxiliary bishop of Krakow:

[John Paul II] had tenaciously and skillfully defended the rights of the workers of Nowa Huta to have a church in their new city, celebrating Christmas Midnight Mass in a freezing, open Nowa Huta field during the years in which the Polish communist regime refused a building permit. Then, on October 13, 1967, the authorities finally budged, and permission was given for construction (George Weigel, The End and the Beginning, 54).

The Communist regime in Poland attempted to keep the working town of Nowa Huta without religion and without God. Blessed John Paul II responded by bringing God’s Son to the people there, celebrating Christmas Mass with them year after year. Eventually the authorities budged, allowing the “Ark Church” to be built for the people of the town.

God's Gift to Humanity: The Fourth Sunday of Advent

The most thought-provoking reminder of the Lord's birth, about to take place, comes from the Nativity scene which has already been set up in many homes.

The simplicity of the Crib, however, is in strong contrast to that concept of Christmas which advertisements present insistently. Even the beautiful tradition of exchanging Christmas gifts between relatives and friends is under the influence of consumerism, which risks obscuring the true meaning of Christ's birth. Indeed, this tradition of exchanging gifts is to be understood in the perspective of God's gift to humanity in the person of Jesus, of which our gifts in this celebration are a reflection and expression. It is all the more important, for this reason, to favor actions that manifest solidarity and openness toward the poor and needy.

Looking at the Crib, our gaze is especially fixed on the Virgin and on Joseph, who await the birth of Jesus…

…In her, and in her most chaste spouse, we see realized the indispensable conditions to prepare ourselves for Jesus' birth. In the first place, interior silence and prayer, which allow one to contemplate the mystery that is commemorated. In the second place, the willingness to accept the will of God, in whatever way it is manifested.

The "yes" of Mary and Joseph is all-encompassing and involves their entire person:  spirit, soul and body.

May it be this way for each one of us! May Jesus, who in a few days will come, making our Nativity scenes radiant with joy, find a generous welcome in every Christian family, as was the case in Bethlehem on that holy night.

-Blessed John Paul II, Angelus December 22, 2002.