[ad_1]
Published on: 12/24/2020 8:21 PM
The birth of a child is the greatest joy in life, “this is Christmas.” The Pope celebrates Mass on Christmas Eve around the world, in advance, in compliance with the curfew imposed by the pandemic. Bergoglio presides over Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter’s Basilica, in a completely different environment, due to strict anti-Covid regulations. Less than two hundred faithful admitted to the Basilica, in a limited number, with masks and a safety distance. Bergoglio explains the true meaning of Christmas to the faithful around the world.
“On this night the great prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘A child has been born to us, a child has been given to us.’ It is often said that the greatest joy in life is the birth of a child. extraordinary, which changes everything, sets unexpected energies in motion and overcomes fatigue, discomfort and wakefulness, because it brings an indescribable happiness, against which nothing weighs more. This is Christmas: the birth of Jesus is the novelty that allows us each year to be reborn inside, to find in him the strength to face each test. Yes, because his birth is for us: for me, for you, for each one ”.
Bergoglio explains what it means to be children of God: “Today God amazes us and says to each one of us: ‘You are a marvel’. Sister, brother, do not be discouraged. Are you tempted to feel bad? God tells you: No, you are my son! Do you have the feeling of not achieving it, the fear of being inadequate, the fear of not leaving the tunnel of trial? God says to you: ‘Courage, I am with you’, to remind you of the starting point of each rebirth: to recognize yourself as a son of God, a daughter of God. This is the indestructible heart of our hope, the incandescent core that sustains our existence: under our qualities and our defects, stronger than the hurts and failures of the past, fear and concern for the future, there is this truth: we are beloved children. And God’s love for us does not and will never depend on us: it is gratuitous love, pure grace “.
Bergoglio painfully reflects on the many injustices in the world. And he invites believers to examine their conscience: “If we look at the ingratitude of man towards God and the injustice towards so many of our brothers, a doubt arises: the Lord has done well to give us so much, it is good to still have confidence”. In us? Don’t you overestimate us? Yes, he overestimates us, and he does it because he loves us to death. He can’t help loving us. And in this way, he is so different from us. He loves us always, rather than we can have. for us. It is his secret to enter our hearts. God knows that the only way to save us, to heal us inside, is to love us. He knows that we only improve by accepting his tireless love, which does not change, but changes us. Only the love of Jesus transforms life, heals the deepest wounds, frees us from vicious circles of discontent, anger and complaints ”.
In his homily on Christmas Eve, the Pontiff reflects on the condition of the world’s outcasts, like that of Jesus: “In the manger of a dark stable is precisely the Son of God. Another question is posed: why did he come? in the light of the night, without a dignified accommodation, in poverty and rejection, when he deserved to be born as the greatest king in the most beautiful of palaces? Why?, to make us understand how much he loves our human condition: even the point of touching his concrete love our worst misery. The Son of God was born discarded to tell us that everything discarded is the son of God. He came into the world as a child comes into the world, weak and fragile, so that we can accept our weaknesses with tenderness And to discover something important: as in Bethlehem, so also with us God loves to do great things through our miseries. He has placed all our salvation in the manger of a stable and does not fear our miseries: let his mercy transform our lives. wildebeest these miseries! “
The Pontiff once again thunders against worldly attitudes, those that lead us to forget the manger in Bethlehem and that immerse us in ‘mangers of vanity’: “In Bethlehem, which means ‘House of bread’, God is in a manger, as Yes Remind us that to live we need it like bread to eat. We need to allow ourselves to be traversed by his gratuitous, tireless, concrete love. How many times, hungry for fun, success and worldliness, do we feed life with food that does not feed and leaves the emptiness within! It is true: insatiable to have, we throw ourselves into many mangers of vanity, forgetting about the manger in Bethlehem. That manger, poor in everything and rich in love, teaches that the food of life is to let ourselves be loved by God and love by others. Jesus gives us the example: He, the Word of God, is an infant, he does not speak, but offers his life. ”That is why the thrust of those who preach solidarity but then do not put it into practice:“ We talk a lot, but many times we are illiterate of goodness. “
“They have given us a son. Anyone with a young child knows how much love and patience it takes. You have to feed it, take care of it, clean it, take care of its fragility and its needs, which are often difficult to understand. A child makes one feel loved. , but it also teaches love. God was born a child – Francis recalls – to push us to take care of others. Her tender cry makes us understand how useless many of our whims are. His disarmed and disarmed love reminds us that the time we have is not used to cry for ourselves, but to comfort the tears of those who suffer. God installs himself close to us, poor and needy, to tell us that serving the poor we will love him “.
Bergoglio quotes Emily Dickinson: “Since tonight, as one poet wrote, ‘God’s residence is next to mine. Furniture is love.’ We have been given a son. It is You, Jesus, the Son who makes me a son. “. Then a last invocation: “By hugging you, Child of the manger, I embrace my life. By welcoming you, Bread of life, I too want to give my life. You who save me, teach me to serve. You who do not leave me alone, help me. to console your brothers, because from tonight they are all my brothers. “
REPRODUCTION RESERVED © Copyright Adnkronos.
[ad_2]
