About 15 priests concelebrated, including the Vicar General of the Vrhbosna Archdiocese, Msgr. Slađan Ćosić as well as the provincial of the Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena, OFM Zdravko Dadić.

At the beginning, Archbishop Vukšić greeted those present in the cathedral and those who were watching the Holy Mass through the television program BHT1 and the radio waves, and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. "We rejoice in God's closeness. We rejoice that God is with us and among us. At the beginning of this Holy Mass, let us enable Him with our repentance, let us straighten out His ways and paths, so that He may settle in our consciences, lives, thinking and behaviour. May dear God make the kingdom of heaven even more present in this world in our conversion", said Msgr. Vukšić.

Sharer of divine love

At the beginning of the appropriate homily entitled Let's go to Bethlehem. Let's see what happened! Archbishop Vukšić used this title to remind the shepherds of the words they used to encourage each other to see what happened in Bethlehem after the heavenly voice announced the good news. "In joy that God is near and as a sign of thanks and praise to God for the blessing of the Lord's coming among people, the heavens sang and uttered the words: 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men, to his beloved!' (Lk 2:14)", he said, underlining that these are the words of angels that the Church regularly repeats when it solemnly celebrates the Holy Mass.

He reminded that in the days of Jesus' birth there were many people in Bethlehem because the census ordered by the Roman Empire was taking place. "Such a large number of people was probably the first thing the shepherds noticed when they came to this place, but it probably did not interest them too much because they were brought by the desire to see the event that the Lord had announced to them", pointed out Msgr. Vukšić, explaining how these simple people in Bethlehem found Mary, Joseph and the newborn "just as they had been told, and later they returned glorifying and praising God for everything they had heard and seen" (Lk 2:16-20).

In the continuation of the sermon, he wished that "we all go to Bethlehem in spirit and look at what happened in faith". "In an ancient speech about the feast of the Nativity of the Lord, we read the following words: 'Let us rejoice, because today our Savior was born to us. And we must not be sad today when we celebrate the birthday of Life. The Lord has destroyed the fear of death and made us happy with the promise that he will give us eternal life. And let no one be separated from this joy. We all have one single reason for general joy: our Lord destroyed sin and death and, as he found no one without sin, so he came to save us all. Let the righteous rejoice , because he is getting closer to victory. Let the sinner also rejoice, because he is called to forgiveness'", Archbishop quoted Leo the Great, pointing out that through the Lord "all the ends of the earth saw the salvation of our God" (Isaiah 98:3) and therefore let the whole earth shout, rejoice and sing.

"In addition to the memory of the day of Jesus' birth being a reason for great celebration, this is also the day of our deep thanks to God the Father for having mercy on us through his Son and the Holy Spirit, reviving us from the death of sin and calling us to be a new creation and a new work of God through Christ, that is, to put off of ourselves the old man with his bad deeds and to, as partakers of Christ's birth, put on the new man", the archbishop added a quote from Leo the Great, who encouraged Christians to know their dignity because they have become partakers of the divine nature, and therefore, they should not "return to their previous meanness by living a sinful life".

In the final part of the sermon, he added that "after the voices from heaven sang glory and praise to God, the same angels wished and prayed for peace for all people and each person individually because everyone is God's favourite".

"Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, let's go in the spirit to Bethlehem once more and see what is happening under this vision in the homeland of Jesus and in many other parts of the world! Every time has had its challenges, anxieties, trials and problems. Even tragedies. Unfortunately, not a single generation of people has spared themselves from this. However, out of all this, man experiences the most difficult torments, which afflict him personally and his contemporaries, because what belonged to earlier generations exists in us only in the form of memory. And it lasts in the form of memories preserved by individuals, families, nations or archives and scientific studies. And it differs from the current torments and anxieties by our generation not personally experiencing what belonged to other times", he said and underlined that, in the midst of all this, even amid great tragedies, the joy of Christmas is always great, primarily because of God's love expressed and because of God's call, addressed to everyone, that man should leave his sinful past with his life and not return to it.

Follow Jesus

Having said that the Holy Family had a bitter experience of persecution from their homeland throughout their lives, in which there was no shortage of trials, but Jesus was still a preacher and witness of hope and despite his infinite goodness, he ended his earthly life as a victim of human malice, injustice and violence.

"Wars, suffering, violence, persecutions, waves of refugees and the difficult fate of so many people who flee should never happen, but, unfortunately, the 'Cain syndrome' has never disappeared from the intentions, thinking and behaviour of some people. But, despite everything, not only that Jesus can be our comfort and a source of hope and faith, but he is that (...) Jesus is a joy that, with his example of perseverance and faithfulness, helps us to go with optimism and goodness, in the face of all evil, through challenges and anxieties. That way of life is walking after Jesu", he said, giving a vivid description of that walk as a path for a lamp in the dark, where the lamp does not "extinguish the darkness" but illuminates the path to the goal through the darkness. In this context, he emphasized that it is necessary to understand why Jesus was called the light that came into the world (John 1:9) and why Christians were sent to be the light of the world. "And per this teaching of Jesus, our task, mission and honour in our thinking, speech and behaviour is to be signs of Jesus, who is our hope, that is, to help people who are suffering and to pray and make sure that all violence and evil intentions are stopped", said Msgr. Vukšić, who at the end of the Eucharist, in the name of the Holy Father, gave a blessing with complete forgiveness to all those present, who had confessed and received communion.

The liturgical celebration with harmonious singing and playing was animated by the Cathedral Mixed Choir Josip Stadler under the direction of rev. Marko Stanušić, regens chori of the cathedral.