The Pope’s 3 wishes for Christmas

Hope all is well. Last week, before lighting what is believed to be the world’s largest Christmas tree in Gubbio Italy, Pope Benedict listed his 3 Christmas wishes for this year. I think they can be a help to each of us as we prepare our hearts and families for Christmas.

God bless and prayers, Fr. Charles Sikorsky, LC

“My first wish, ……..is that our gaze, that of our minds and our hearts, not rest only on the horizon of this world, on its material things, but that in some way, like this tree that tends upward, it be directed toward God. God never forgets us but He also asks that we don’t forget Him.”

The Holy Father’s second and third wish relate to light.

“My second wish is that we recall that we also need a light to illumine the path of our lives and to give us hope, especially in this time in which we feel so greatly the weight of difficulties, of problems, of suffering, and it seems that we are enshrouded in a veil of darkness. But what light can truly illuminate our hearts and give us a firm and sure hope? It is the Child whom we contemplate on Christmas, in a poor and humble manger, because He is the Lord who draws near to each of us and asks that we receive Him anew in our lives, asks us to want Him, to trust in Him, to feel His presence, that He is accompanying us, sustaining us, and helping us.”

The Pontiff presented his third wish with this reflection: “This great tree is formed of many lights. My final wish is that each of us contribute something of that light to the spheres in which we live: our families, our jobs, our neighborhoods, towns, and cities.”

 

About Fr. Charles Sikorsky, LC

President, Institute for the Psychological Sciences www.ipsciences.edu Fr. Charles came to the Institute for the Psychological Sciences in 2007, after finishing his Licentiate in Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His thesis focused on various issues relating to the legal compatibility of the observance of Canon Law and Ex Corde Ecclesiae by Catholic universities in the United States of America. He also has degrees in philosophy and theology from the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical Atheneum. A native of Baltimore, MD, Fr. Charles graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law, where he founded Law Students for Life. He received a B.A. in political economy from The Johns Hopkins University where he also played college basketball. He is a graduate of Calvert Hall College High School in Towson, MD, where he played on the 1981-82 National Championship high school basketball team. He practiced law for two years before joining the Legionaries of Christ in 1992. He did a four year apostolic internship in South America, working in Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Venezuela. He also spent nine years in Rome for study and ministry. He was ordained a priest in 2002. The Institute for the Psychological Sciences is a Catholic graduate school of Psychology in Arlington, VA, offering Master’s and Doctoral degrees in psychology. The mission of the Institute is to harmonize the science of psychology with the Christian vision of the person and his or her dignity. Its programs enable graduates to grasp all the complexities of the human person, including the transcendent, spiritual and moral dimensions, so that they can help their patients to flourish as individuals created and loved by God.
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