CHRISTMAS MESSAGE BY CARDINAL FRANJO KUHARIC

ZAGREB, Dec 24 (Hina) - The following are excerpts from a Christmas message by the Cardinal Archbishop of Zagreb, Franjo Kuharic, which was broadcast on Croatian radio and television on Tuesday night: "With all my heart, I wish a merry Christmas to you, dear families, to you who are obliged to spend Christmas at your places of work, to you, dear patients, doctors and hospital personnel, to you, dear pensioners in pensioners' homes and your apartments! With all my heart, I wish a merry Christmas to defenders, invalids, all people in all professions and at all positions. Let the Christmas message of peace reach you, convicts, and all those who suffer loneliness or any other pain or hardship!" "A merry Christmas to all those who accept Jesus Christ with sincere faith, as God and Saviour of men; and to all those who search for God with sincere conscience and try to do good; to all those who have good will for building a better world through work, honesty and human solidarity with those needful of human help!" "When God's truth shines in the human conscience and by the power of His love frees the human heart from evil and sin, then man becomes a peacemaker, open to others, a man of goodness and righteousness." "When man is righteous in this relationship (to God), then he must be righteous in the relationship to all other men, in his family and in the community! This is the Constitution of Jesus Christ: Love thy Lord God...and thy neighbour as thyself! This is the essence of all commandments, all laws, and should be an inspiration to all other constitutions, a solution to all problems that plague human relationships: personal, family, national and international! Christ's Constitution is a guarantee of the common good, it is the Constitution of the Kingdom of God." "Whenever man tries to build a world without God, he always builds it against man. Christmas is God's message from Heaven to Earth, from God to man; it is a call for reconciliation and peace, an invitation to people to join together in God's love so that the world becomes a better place and history worthy of man's dignity!" "Let His peace fill our hearts, let it imbue our families, let it bring together all citizens of Croatia in harmony, cooperation and respect for the common good! "We are praying for a blessed New Year 1997, filled with comfort, hope and well-being." (hina) jn as vm 241909 MET dec 96