"O Sun (Dawn) that is born from above, radiance of eternal light, Sun of justice, come now to illuminate those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death."

With the whole Church we confess Jesus as the Word of life; the one we have heard and seen with our eyes, the one we contemplated and touched with our hands of faith (1 John 1,1).

The light of faith is the great gift brought by Jesus Christ, "I have come into the world as light, and so, whoever believes in me will not remain in darkness" (John 12,46). That light has shone in our hearts.

In the pagan world, hungry for light, the cult of the Sun was established, the Sol invictus, invoked at its exit. But the sun does not illuminate all of reality; its rays cannot reach the shadows of death, where human eyes close to its light. Aware of the vast horizon that faith opened up for them, Christians called Christ the true sun, "whose rays give life" (cf. Lumen fidei 1).

In this "favorable time" let us recover the luminous character of faith, capable of illuminating the entire existence of man. This powerful light that has its source is God. Faith is born from the encounter with the living God, who calls us and reveals his love to us, a love that precedes us and on which we can rely to be safe and build life. Transformed by this love, we receive new eyes, we experience that in it there is a great promise of fulfillment and our gaze is opened to the future (cf. Lumen fidei 4).

Come, Jesus, enlighten the hearts of men and women of good will!