Dear Friends in Christ,

We are moving towards a celebration that touches the heart: Christmas. Advent, which begins today, is the suitable time to prepare for Christ's coming by practicing works of mercy and setting our hearts on the eternal rather than the things of this world.

Sometimes we look at our existence as a kind of night. It can be long and dark when we look at our powerlessness, our weakness, and our sins, but this does not mean we are “children of darkness.” We are waiting for a personal visit from Jesus, and this obliges us to be attentive to “the signs of the times” that indicate the closeness of the big day. Certainly, Christ has already come in the very first Christmas. And now he is coming back, here where I am, in what I do, if my heart is ready to welcome his way of coming as a light. In the Christmas Mass, Isaiah tells us, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light.”