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Pope Francis: “The birth of a child is the greatest joy, so is Christmas”
The birth of a child is the greatest joy in life, “this is Christmas”. The Pope celebrates mass on Christmas Eve worldwide, in advance, in compliance with the curfew imposed by the pandemic. Bergoglio presides over the Mass at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter’s Basilica, in a completely different atmosphere, due to the strict anti-Covid regulations. Less than two hundred faithful admitted to the Basilica, in limited numbers, with masks and 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 is born for 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 in motion unexpected energies and overcomes fatigue, discomfort and sleepless wakefulness, because it brings indescribable happiness, in front of which nothing weighs more. This is Christmas: the birth of Jesus is the novelty that allows us every year to be reborn within, to find in him the strength to face every trial. 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 of us: ‘You are a marvel.’ Sister, brother, do not lose heart. Are you tempted to feel wrong? God tells you: ‘No, you are my son!’ Do you have the feeling of not making it, the fear of being inadequate, the fear of not getting out of the tunnel of trial? God tells you: ‘Come on, I’m with you.’ He doesn’t tell you in words, but by becoming a son like you and for you, to remind you of the starting point of all your rebirths: to recognize yourself as the son of God, daughter of God. This is the indestructible heart of our hope, the incandescent core that supports existence: below of our qualities and our defects, stronger than the wounds and failures of the past, the fears and anxiety for the future, there is this truth: we are beloved children. And God’s love for us does not depend and does not it 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 man’s ingratitude towards God and 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? Does he not overestimate us? Yes, he overestimates us, and he does it because he loves us to death. He cannot help but love us. And in this way, he is so different from us. He always loves us, more well than we manage to have. for ourselves. It is his secret to enter our heart. 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 the vicious circles of dissatisfaction, anger and complaints “. In his homily on Christmas Eve, the Pontiff reflects on the condition of the discarded of the world, the same as that of Jesus: “In the poor manger of a dark stable there is precisely the Son of God. Another question arises: why did he come to the light in the night, without a worthy 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 our human condition loves: to the point of touching the his concrete love our worst misery. The Son of God was born discarded to tell us that every discarded one is a child of God. He came into the world as a child comes into the world, weak and fragile, so that we can accept our frailties with tenderness. And to discover an important thing: as in Bethlehem, so also with us God loves to do great things through our poverties. He has put all our salvation in the manger of a stable and is not afraid of our poverties: let us let his mercy transform our n our miseries! ” The Pontiff thunders again against worldly attitudes, those that lead us to forget the manger in Bethlehem and that make us immerse in ‘mangers of vanity’: “In Bethlehem, which means ‘House of bread’, God is in a manger, as if remind us that in order to live we need him as bread to eat. We need to let ourselves be traversed by his gratuitous, tireless, concrete love. How many times, hungry for fun, success and worldliness, do we feed life with foods that do not satisfy and leave the emptiness inside! It is true: insatiable to have, we throw ourselves into many mangers of vanity, forgetting the manger in Bethlehem. That manger, poor in everything and rich in love, teaches that the nourishment of life is to let ourselves be loved by God and loved by others. Jesus gives us the example: He, the Word of God, is an infant; he does not speak, but offers his life “. So the lunge to those who preach solidarity but then do not put it into practice: “We talk a lot, but we are often illiterate about goodness”. “We have been given a son. Anyone who has a small child knows how much love and patience it takes. It is necessary to feed him, take care of him, clean him, take care of his frailty and his needs, which are often difficult to understand. A child makes one feel loved. , but he also teaches to love. God was born a child – Francis recalls – to push us to take care of others. His tender weeping makes us understand how useless so many of our whims are. His disarmed and disarming love reminds us that the time we have it does not serve to cry over us, but to console the tears of those who suffer. God takes up residence near us, poor and needy, to tell us that by serving the poor we will love Him “. Bergoglio quotes Emily Dickinson: “Since tonight, as a 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 son”. Then a final invocation: “By embracing 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 since tonight they are all my brothers. “
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