Christmas message from Bethlehem

My very dear Knights of Columbus, dear donors, dear friends,

  From the Holy City of Bethlehem and from the Holy City of Beit Sahour I send you this Christmas Message. 

   From the Grotto of the Nativity in Bethlehem, Our Great God chose to come among us, little baby, poor, humble, fragile (frail) sharing our humanity to show us the way to share Him His Divinity. From Beit Sahour this very small town very close to Bethlehem, the Angels appeared to the shepherds singing the Glory to God, Peace on earth and good will to men.  What a mystery! From the beginning God said, “Let us create man in our own image”, so from the soil of the ground God made man and blew the breath of life into his nostrils. With this creation God gave to man one of His best gifts, FREEDOM, freedom to choose and decide what is good and what is not. But like a child who cannot decide properly away from his father, man needs to be always united with love to his Creator and FATHER. This is how began our mystery of Salvation: Man chose to make his life away from his FATHER and GOD, we still continue to see  this freedom used badly with the wars, terrorism , and many others …..

  Everyday we are depressed hearing bad news here or there, many are spending money for weapons to kill and destroy. But in spite of this bad news the Knights of Columbus are coming like a star with the encouragement of their Grand Knights.  The Knights of Columbus are donating with love to help and build. All the news in the newspapers and magazines are spreading news of death and the Columbia Magazine few weeks ago gave us GOOD NEWS, an article by Marta Zaknoun was speaking about our school in Beit Sahour and the Knights of Columbus, helping our students to cover their tuitions as many families cannot afford them because of the social, economic, and political situation. These good news are bringing to our hearts the joy of hope.

     From the Grotto of the Nativity where I am spending the whole night contemplating the mystery of  God and His Mercy, as FATHER He cannot leave us in our death but sent His beloved Son to free us from the slavery of sin and make us share His Divine life. From the Grotto of the Nativity I am worshiping the Son of God Jesus Christ, who is ONE with the FATHER, who took flesh like my flesh from the beloved Holy Virgin Mary, Yes God our Father loves us to that stand, my heart is burning of love for HIM. 

    Jesus came among us to help us to deny the old man in us and welcome the Holy Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Person in the Holy Trinity who came upon the Virgin Mary and accomplished in Her the mystery of Incarnation. This is quite impossible! How can the One who created the whole creation be conceived in the wombs of a young Virgin. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Person who accomplishes the impossible missions! He comes into us when we believe in Christ, so the Holy Spirit makes us one with the Son of God. “All of you who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ”.

From Jerusalem, from Bethlehem, and with great joy, I am proud to proclaim my faith to all of you, our Christian faith is great and beautiful. I am encouraged to see also this beautiful faith in many of you, be proud to be Christians, proclaim your Christian faith to everybody. Many around you and us are blind and they are suffering in their selfishness, they don’t know that you are their arch angels, you are like the apostles proclaiming the Good News.

 I am pleased to wish you all   Merry Christmas 
                                A Holy & Happy 
                                 New Year 2016

  Blessed are you O Virgin Mary because you said YES the day of the Annunciation. We love you because you devoted your whole life to be the Gate of the MERCY of God.

  Blessed are you O Pure and Chaste Saint Joseph because you devoted your life standing beside the Virgin Mary protecting her and the Divine Baby. You devoted your whole life to God, serving and protecting the Holy family.

  Glory to You God our Father for loving us and sending your beloved Son, 
  Glory to You O beloved Son who took flesh sharing our human lives except sins
  Glory to You O Holy Spirit, you make Jesus grow in us so we can share His Divine Life
  
We Glorify you O God, we praise you, we worship You, we Love You, we sing to You FATHER, SON, HOLY SPIRIT
                                                       AMEN.

                                  Archbishop +Joseph- Jules Zerey
                                      General Patriarchal Vicar 
                            of the Greek Melkite Catholic Patriarchate
                                                   in Jerusalem  

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