too many funeral-faced Christians

Believers should not have “the face of the wake”, because “Christ is risen, he loves you. We say: I am happy because the Lord is close to me and has redeemed me.” This is the appeal launched by Pope Francis on the occasion of the Sunday Angelus from St. Peter’s Square, in which he focused on the concept of joy.

The joy of faith is a beloved theme that comes back several times: joy must represent a “characteristic of our faith.” The reason is that, “even in dark times, the Lord is the center of our life. Think carefully: how do I behave? Am I a happy person or am I like the sad ones who seem to be at the wake? Others will say: yes. Faith is so sad, it is better not to have it ”, warns the Pope.

Francis also recalls that “the invitation to joy is characteristic of the Advent season: the expectation that we live is joyful, a bit like when we are waiting for the visit of a person we love very much, for example, a great friend whom we do not we have seen for a long time. hour. ” A dimension that emerges on the third Sunday of Advent, which opens with the exhortation of Saint Paul: ‘Rejoice always in the Lord’ ”. In short, “the closer the Lord is to us, the more joy we are; the more distant it is, the more we become saddened. This is a rule for Christians. “

The words of the Pope arrive on Sunday in which the Gospel of John “presents the biblical character who, with the exception of Our Lady and Saint Joseph, lived above all the expectation of the Messiah and the joy of seeing him arrive: we are naturally speaking of John the Baptist, “who is” the first witness “of the Lord. For Bergoglio, in fact, the first condition of Christian joy is “to decentralize and put Jesus at the center.”

Pope Francis also blesses the ‘Babies’ of the Cribs but, for the coronavirus emergency, there is only a representation of the children of the Diocese of Rome. “This year,” Pope Francis says, “few of you are here because of the pandemic, but I know that many children and young people are gathered in oratories and in their homes and follow us” on television. In conclusion, another warm invitation also comes to believers: “When you pray at home, with your family, in front of the manger, let yourself be attracted by the tenderness of the Child Jesus, born poor and fragile.”