We
are ending a year today. Tomorrow we start a new year. It is a time of
assessment. Make a quick look back: what are the moments that stand out? What
are the major achievements? What are the things to thank God for? How has your
life changed? What are the things you would not want to carry with in the New
Year? What are the resolutions for this New Year? The gospel of today gives
something to think of as first priority. "To those who accepted him he
gave power to become children of God." As we conclude the octave of
Christmas, we recall that this is the one reason why Jesus was born for us: to
give us power to become children of God. This is what gives meaning to our
whole life; it is the reason for our very existence: to know, love and serve
God in this life as his children and to live with him as such forever. But this
status is given only to those who want it and who accept it as a gift from God.
This
year is coming to an end; the future year is starting soon. This “hour” of
prayer has a special intensity and in a certain way sums up all the hours of
the year that is about to end, and opens all the hours of the year to come. The
praise we are raising to the Lord this evening is a hymn of thanksgiving. Whether
this was easy or difficult, barren or fruitful, let us give thanks to God. At
times of course it is hard to understand this profound reality, because evil is
noisier than goodness; an atrocious murder, widespread violence, grave forms of
injustice hit the headlines; whereas acts of love and service, the daily effort
sustained with fidelity and patience are often left in the dark, they pass
unnoticed. We must be able to pause in silence, in meditation, in calm,
prolonged reflection; we must know how to stop and think. We must stop and give
thanks to God.
In
Christian life, it is above all in the recollection of the conscience that God
speaks to us, so that we can learn to evaluate truthfully our own actions and
also the evil present within us and around us. In this way we are able to start
out afresh on a journey of conversion that makes us wiser and better people,
more capable of generating solidarity and communion and of overcoming evil with
good. Christians are people of hope, even and above all when they face the
darkness that often exists in the world and has nothing to do with God’s plan
but is the result of the erroneous choices of human beings, for Christians know
that the power of faith can move mountains (cf. Mt 17:20): The Lord can
illuminate even the thickest darkness.
Dear
friends, on the last evening of the year which is coming to its end and on the
threshold of the new one, let us praise the Lord God! Let us express our repentance
and the request for forgiveness, as well as sincere gratitude for the
innumerable benefits granted to us by the divine Good. In particular, let us
thank him for the grace and truth that have come to us through Jesus Christ the
new born. In him lies the fullness of all human time. In him lies the future of
every human being. In him will be brought about the fulfillment of the hope of
the Church and of the world.
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