As soon as he came in her life—immediately she went in haste to give that good news，and as she came into the house of her cousin，the child—the unborn child—the child in the womb of Elizabeth，leapt with joy. He was that little unborn child，was the first messenger of peace. He recognised the Prince of Peace，he recognised that Christ has come to bring the good news for you and for me. And as if that was not enough—it was not enough to become a man—he died on the cross to show that greater love，and he died for you and for me and for that leper and for that man dying of hunger and that naked person lying in the street not only of Calcutta，but of Africa，and New York，and London，and Oslo and insisted that we love one another as he loves each one of us. And we read that in the Gospel very clearly—love as I have loved you—as I love you—as the Father has loved me，I love you—and the harder the Father loved him，he gave him to us，and how much we love one another，we，too，must give each other until it hurts. It is not enough for us to say：I love God，but I do not love my neighbour. St. John says you are a liar if you say you love God，and you don’t love your neighbour. How can you love God whom you do not see，if you do not love your neighbour whom you see，whom you touch，with whom you live. And so this is very important for us to realise that love，to be true，has to hurt. It hurt Jesus to love us，it hurt him. And to make sure we remember his great love he made himself the bread of life to satisfy our hunger for his love. Our hunger for God，because we have been created for that love. We have been created in his image. We have been created to love and be loved，and then he has become man to make it possible for us to love as he loved us. He makes himself the hungry one—the naked one—the homeless one—the sick one—the one in prison—the lonely one—the unwanted one—and he says：You did it to me. Hungry for our love，and this is the hunger of our poor people. This is the hunger that you and I must find. It may be in our own home.
The other day I received 15 dollars from a man who has been on his back for twenty years，and the only part that he can move is his right hand. And the only companion that he enjoys is smoking. And he said to me：I do not smoke for one week，and I send you this money. It must have been a terrible sacrifice for him，but see how beautiful，how he shared，and with that money I bought bread and I gave to those who are hungry with a joy on both sides，he was giving and the poor were receiving. This is something that you and I—it is a gift of God to us to be able to share our love with others. And let it be as it was for Jesus. Let us love one another as he loved us. Let us love Him with undivided love. And the joy of loving Him and each other—let us give now—that Christmas is coming so close. Let us keep that joy of loving Jesus in our hearts. And share that joy with all that we come in touch with. And that radiating joy is real，for we have no reason not to be happy because we have no Christ with us. Christ in our hearts，Christ in the poor that we meet，Christ in the smile that we give and the smile that we receive. Let us make that one point：that no child will be unwanted，and also that we meet each other always with a smile，especially when it is difficult to smile.
