Patriarch's Christmas greeting to the Vicariate

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ of the Hebrew-speaking Catholic Community in Israel,

As we approach Christmas, the feast of the celebration of the birth of the promised Messiah Jesus Christ of the House of David, our thoughts turn to the human story which tells of how God determined that the fruit of salvation would blossom forth from the good soil. God desired that salvation would come from the land, from the earth, from below. The feast of the birth of the son of Mary, Savior of the World in a cold grotto on a dark night in a small town in Judea obliges us to look at that land with wonder, and consider that human story with gratitude.

God formed a human story, and within it He chose a people to present His Word, His Son to the world. This choice is irrevocable.  This people is still chosen to present the Son of God to the world, even as this land still points us to this blessed event.  It is a vocation.  It is your vocation.

As the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, your Patriarch and Patriarch of the land of the earthly mission of our Lord, I address you full of affection and gratitude on the occasion of this feast.  I am grateful for your vocation, for your free assent to this call to accept into your hearts the Wonderful Counselor and to give witness to Him in this our cherished land, among His people.

May the simplicity of this feast recall us all to a silence, in admiration, so that the Lord may find us united in heart and mind, as one body full of good works on the day of His coming.

With Paternal affection,
+ Fouad Twal, Patriarch