Dear friends,

The year that is drawing to a close will remain engraved in our memories and those of humanity.

Our certainties have been shaken.

We have been put in touch with a deeper fragility, a more profound vulnerability, both in ourselves and in our societies. We realise that we are all in the same boat.

Some of us have taken advantage of this time to refocus, to engage more fully with the meaning of their life. Many others have experienced it as a time of loneliness and exclusion.

In the midst of the storm, faces have appeared, faces of compassion, of self-giving, of solidarity and love.

It is in these humble faces, bearers of light, peace and hope, that we discern the face of the One who is our light in the darkness: God with us, Emmanuel.

This year, the simplicity and the poverty of Jesus’ nativity speak to us more than ever.

Let’s embrace the peace and hope of Christmas. May they nourish our lives for the coming year.

God bless you!

Franck Janin S.J.
President of the Jesuit Conference of European Provincials