In his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis is urging Christians to make the celebration of the birth of Jesus rich in faith, not just a sentimental or consumerist event.
By Vatican News
Christmas teaches us that God did not look down on us and pass by, but that He fully took on our nature and human condition, except for sin. This event gives meaning to human existence and all of history, and can dispel the pessimism caused by the pandemic. Pope Francis made this point clear in this week’s general audience, two days before Christmas.
Overcoming worldly mindset
The birth of Jesus, he noted, has become a universal celebration and has a charm about it even among people of different faiths. For Christians it is a “decisive event, an eternal fire that God has kindled in the world, and should not be confused with ephemeral things.” Therefore, “it is important that it is not reduced to a purely sentimental or consumerist festival, full of gifts and good wishes, but poor in the Christian faith.”
Last Sunday, the Pope said he drew attention to this problem, noting that consumerism has “hijacked” Christmas from us. Christmas, he said, should not be reduced to a purely sentimental or consuming celebration, rich in gifts and good wishes, but poor in the Christian faith, and poor in humanity as well. “It is necessary,” he said, “to quell a certain worldly mentality that is incapable of grasping the glowing core of our faith:“ God became man and dwelt among us.
God’s goodness overcomes the failures of man
This fact, the Pope explained, invites us to reflect on two things. On the one hand, there is the drama of history, in which men and women, wounded by sin, ceaselessly seek truth, mercy, and redemption. On the other hand, there is the goodness of God that has come to us to tell us the truth that saves us and to share in His friendship and His life, which is pure grace, not something we deserve.
The simplicity and humanity of Christmas, the Pope said, can remove from our hearts and minds the pessimism that has spread today as a result of the pandemic. As we rediscover and realize that the humble and poor Child, hidden and helpless, is God Himself, made man for us, said the Pope, we cannot be overwhelmed by defeats, failures and the sense of disturbing bewilderment.
The event of the birth of Jesus shows us that “God did not look down on us, did not pass us by, was not repelled by our misery, did not superficially cloth Himself in a body, but rather took on our nature and body completely. physical state. “” He left nothing out except sin: all mankind is in Him. He took everything we are, just as we are. “This, said the Pope, is essential to understanding the Christian faith.
Tenderness – the “weakness” of Jesus
In this connection he recalled the journey of the conversion of St. Augustine, who tells in his confessions: “For I did not hold fast to my Lord Jesus Christ, I, humble, to the Humble One; I did not yet know where I would lead to his weakness. U.S.”
“The” weakness “of Jesus,” said the Pope, “is a” teaching “because” it reveals to us the love of God. ” Christmas is the festival of Love incarnate where Jesus Christ is the light of humanity that shines in the darkness and gives meaning to human existence and all of history.
The Holy Father urged Christians to prepare for Christmas by meditating a little in silence in front of the manger in the mind of Saint Francis of Assisi, allowing ourselves to wonder in the ‘miraculous’ way God is in the world wanted to come to be reborn in us. This, he said, will revive tenderness in us.
The Pope recalled meeting some scientists recently who talked about many things a robot can do for a man. When he asked about something a robot will never be able to do, they suggested several things, but eventually agreed that a robot can never give tenderness. The Holy Father said, “This is what God is bringing to us today – a wonderful way that God wanted to come into the world, and this is reviving in us the human tenderness that is close to God’s tenderness.” Today we are so in need of tenderness and human caresses in the face of so much misery. “If the pandemic has forced us to be further away,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus, in the manger, shows us the way of tenderness. To be close together, to be human.”