ANGELUS: WE MUST WELCOME THE MESSIAH AS MARY DID

VATICAN CITY, DEC 19, 1999 (VIS) - At today's angelus, on this last Sunday of Advent, Pope John Paul reflected on the imminent Christmas vigil Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on December 24 and the opening of the Holy Door, which officially inaugurates the Jubilee Year 2000.

He also spoke of today's Gospel where we see "the Virgin Mary in the act of welcoming the announcement of the birth of the Messiah. Her actions are for every Christian and for every person of good will a model of how to prepare oneself for Christmas and the Great Jubilee. She performed an act of faith, of listening to the Word of God, in order to assent to it with complete submission of mind and heart."

"Opening the Holy Door," observed the Pope, "the Church is symbolically expressing how God has opened the path of salvation to everyone. Each one is expected to answer, as Mary did, with a personal and sincere 'yes,' opening up in turn their own life to the love of God."

The Holy Father pointed out that "the lights on the streets bring to mind one aspect of the holiday season, a more external one which, while it is not negative in itself, risks however distracting us from the authentic spirit of Christmas. If in fact, and rightly so, Christmas has become the feast of gifts, it is because we are celebrating the gift par excellence that God gave mankind in the person of Jesus. However this tradition should be lived in harmony with the meaning of the event, in a simple and sober style."

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