" It was the mystery of Christmas that converted me "says Father Chevrier.
That's why this celebration is so important in the Pradosian tradition. Every year, the general manager, Armando Pasqualotto and his assistants, Luc Lalire and Sergio Braga are sending a Christmas letter to all pradosians around the world.
As 2024 draws to a close, they have also chosen to share the words of Youssef ASSAF (Councillor and member of Prado d'Orient), who represents Christians living through a period of extreme violence.
Enjoy your reading and feel free to share their message with your friends and family.
Click on the image below to download the Christmas letter 2024 in French, ou choose your language.
The letter in French can also be read directly, click here.
"HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT
Dear all,
The mystery of the Incarnation, which guides us and reminds us that being disciples and apostles of Jesus Christ for the poor, has its origins in "God our Saviour and Jesus Christ our hope". (1 Tim 1:1). The light of Christmas accompanies the journey of every troubled life, but it is in faith that "Nothing and no one can separate us from the love of God manifested in Christ". (Rom 8:39).
We hope that this word of hope offered to each of you will also be the word that you offer to those you meet on your daily journey and who are looking for "hope". the hope that does not disappoint "This is what the Apostle Paul says in his Letter to the Romans (Romans 5:5).
Pope Francis is inviting us to embark on "Ways of Hope" during the Jubilee Year that begins at Christmas. How can we rekindle our hope and the hope of all people? What paths are we called to take to rediscover the beatitude of those who place their hope in the Lord?
This year, we make our own the words of hope that come to us from our Pradosian brothers of the Prado d'Orient. The peoples who live in this region, and who are pastorally accompanied by them, are under the scourge of war, suspicion and blind violence that no longer distinguishes citizens from those with armed hands. In this land, as in all those marked by violence, it seems that the sense of the other, quite distinct from oneself, has been erased. The meaning of life, so sacred in the eyes of the Most High, has been lost. It is not only the perception of life that is altered, but also the understanding of God that is transformed. God is no longer the universal root of all peoples. He has been kidnapped by the ideology of messianic nationalism. It is therefore in the name of God, who is in power, that everything is justified, including the violence that takes the life of others and therefore denies God himself.
Let us allow ourselves to be led along paths of Hope by the faith reading given by our Pradosian brothers on the drama they are experiencing in these days, particularly in Lebanon.
"As pilgrims of Hope, let us walk with Joseph and Mary, who are on the move at the behest of the Emperor, but waiting for the One whose existence he does not know. Let us walk in joy, in haste, with the shepherds who run to see the Word announced by the Angel of the Lord. Let us walk with the docility of the Magi, led by the star but also by the deep desire of a restless heart that can only rest in God!
If we dare to make this journey, which is born of desire in circumstances that are not always just, this journey will bring us a joy and peace that are not of this world, and which have a name: "Spirit of God" or "Divine Breath". So Saint Peter invites us to " to be ready at all times to present a defence to anyone who asks us to give an account of the hope that is in us. " (1P 3.15)
Returning to the text of this epistle (3.8-18), we receive the call to receive the blessing as an inheritance. Let us never lose it, even in the worst of circumstances. Let us live according to this precious inheritance today, making it bear fruit, drawing strength from it and spreading it around us. It is true that we live in the midst of a multitude of difficulties, but who can live without encountering difficulties? If suffering is everyone's lot, then let us suffer by doing good and not evil.
Peter invites us to cling to Christ, to give him a place in our hearts; it is from him that we receive our hope, for though he was dead in the flesh, he is alive in the power of the Spirit. Our life in Christ, with him and through him, is the sign of our hope. It is by our lives, and not just by our words, that we can bring Hope to the world. The most important thing is not our power or our words, as Father Chevrier told us, but it is our virtues that will show the beautiful face of the Word made flesh.
On every continent, we are witnessing natural or man-made disasters... Before our very eyes in Lebanon, many people are suffering, and many have no hope, but the Christmas messenger proclaims Good Hope for all mankind!
This hope can be seen in concrete signs, even if as such they do not have the power to stop misfortune today; but they sow the seeds of the Kingdom in our humanity and in the world. These signs come to us first of all through the suffering themselves, who do not allow themselves to be overcome by evil and despair. They remind us that the Church was born from the wound of the Crucified One, who gave his life as Son and Brother.
We can also draw this hope from those who are compassionate, those who show solidarity through small gestures, or those who offer to live with disaster victims, exposing themselves to danger in order to serve their fellow human beings. Christmas reminds us that these signs are not limited to a human dimension, but that it is God Himself who shows solidarity with us in Jesus, and through Him. He extends his compassion for the world through the signs of men and women who are bearers of hope, who are thus the manifestation of this Love.
As we make our pilgrimage towards the Kingdom in hope, and journey today and tomorrow with our sisters and brothers, we are preparing to live the Jubilee of the Holy Year 2025, as well as the Pradosian Jubilee of the bicentenary of the birth of Antoine Chevrier: 2026 - 16 April - 2027. The Spirit gives us the grace to live in communion with the charism begun with Blessed Antoine, to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ more closely, and which continues today to bring him to the people of our world, beginning with the poorest.
May this year's Christmas help us to grow in our knowledge of the Incarnate Word, so that we can live better with him and become more and more attached to him, to be his sign and sacrament for the salvation of the world.
Lyon, 08 / 12 / 2024
Armando PASQUALOTTO (General Manager),
Luc LALIRE (1er assistant), Sergio BRAGA DOS SANTOS NETO (2th assistant)
and Youssef ASSAF (Councillor and member of Prado d'Orient).
