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 HE
HOLY FATHER is helping all of us to move into the Great
Jubilee Year 2000 and the Third Millennium of Christianity
by giving us a new vision of faith, hope and love.
 We
are not to be pessimistic in spite of the many negative
things we see in our world today. Rather we need to have
faith in God our Father and Lord, in His goodness and
mercy. As the year 2000 and the Third Millennium of
Christianity approaches, God is preparing a Great
Springtime of Christianity, and we can already see its first
signs, if we see with the eyes of faith. All over the
world, people are drawing closer to Gospel ideals and
values.
Today,
all peoples agree on these values: no more violence and war;
respect for the human person and human rights; the desire
for freedom, justice and solidarity with all; overcoming all
forms of racism and nationalism and affirming the dignity
and the role of woman in our world today.
Together
with this faith in God our Father, we need hope in Jesus
Christ. This means that we commit ourselves to spreading
the Good News of Salvation that Jesus brings. God wants
every person saved, for he created each person in his image
and likeness, and he sent Jesus to die for every person.
This will lead us to pray with Jesus
Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on
earth as it is in heaven (Mt 6:10).
The
number of those awaiting Christ is immense. Some estimate
three billion of the five billion people in our world today,
have not heard of Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the
world. Hence, we need to unite all human and Christian
resources to spread the Gospel.
As
we prepare to celebrate the Jubilee Year 2000, we are even
more committed to this new missionary advent. We must
increase our apostolic zeal to pass on to others the light
and the joy of our faith.
We
cannot be content when billions of our brothers and sisters,
who like us have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, live
in ignorance of the love of God. For each of us believers,
this is the most urgent missionary task, because it concerns
the destiny of humanity and corresponds to God's mysterious
and merciful plan.
In
this last part of the twentieth century and the second
millennium God is giving dramatic signs toward a New
Springtime: the collapse of communism, naziism, apartheid,
totalitarianism, as well as the imminent collapse of
capitalism. The recent deaths of Princess Diana and Mother
Theresa have captured the attention of the whole world in
showing us how to reach out to the needy in a very simple
way.
I
know that I myself have to see God's plan and accept the
guidance of the Holy Father. Only then will I radiate this
faith, hope and love to others. I hope and pray that all of
us will grow in our faith in God our Father, hope in Jesus
Christ as the only Savior of the world, and love in their
Holy Spirit in bringing the Good News of Salvation to
all.
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