During his general audience on Wednesday, Pope Francis urges Christians to make the feast of the birth of Jesus rich in faith, not just a sentimental or consumerist event.
The Vatican News
Christmas teaches us that God did not look down on us and pass away, but He fully assumed our human nature and condition, except sin. This event gives meaning to human existence and the whole of history and can remove the pessimism generated by the pandemic. Pope Francis stressed in the general audience this week, two days before Christmas.
Overcoming the worldly mentality
He mentioned that the birth of Jesus has become a universal holiday and has a charm in this regard even among people of other 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 not to be reduced to a festival only sentimental or consumerist, full of gifts and good wishes, but poor in the Christian faith.”
Last Sunday, the pope said he had drawn attention to the issue, stressing that consumerism had “hijacked” Christmas. Christmas, he said, should not be reduced to a simple sentimental or consumerist holiday, rich in gifts and good wishes, but poor in the Christian faith and poor in humanity. “It is necessary,” he said, “to reduce a certain worldly mentality, incapable of grasping the incandescent core of our faith:” namely, God became man and dwelt among us.
God’s goodness overcomes man’s failures
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, continually seek the truth, mercy, and redemption. On the other hand, there is the goodness of God, who has come to us to communicate to us the saving truth and to make us partakers in His friendship and 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 because of the pandemic. As we rediscover and become aware that the humble and poor child, hidden and helpless, is God Himself, made man for us, the Pope said, we cannot afford to be overwhelmed by defeats, failures and unsettling uneasiness.
The event of Jesus’ birth shows us that “God did not look down on us, did not pass us by, was not rejected by our misfortune, did not put on a superficial body, but rather fully assumed our nature and the human condition. “” He left nothing but sin: all mankind is in Him. He took everything we are, just as we are. “This, the Pope said, is essential to understanding the faith. Christian.
Gentleness – The “infirmity” of Jesus
In this regard, he recalled the journey of conversion of St. Augustine, who in his Confessions tells: “For I did not belong to my Lord Jesus Christ, I, humbly, to the Humble One; us.”
The “infirmity” of Jesus, the Pope said, is a “teaching” because it “reveals to us the love of God.” Christmas is the feast of incarnate Love where Jesus Christ is the light of mankind that shines in the darkness, giving meaning to human existence and all of history.
The Holy Father urged Christians to prepare for Christmas by meditating a little in silence before the crib in the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi, allowing us to marvel at the “wonderful” way in which God wanted to be born again. us. This, he said, will revive tenderness in us.
The pope recalled meeting recently with some scientists, who talked about many things a robot can do for a man. When asked about something a robot will never be able to do, they suggested several things, but in the end they agreed that a robot can never give sensitivity. The Holy Father said, “This is what God brings to us today – a wonderful way in which God wanted to come into the world, and this revives in us the human tenderness that is close to the tenderness of God.” Today we need so much human tenderness and comfort in the face of so much misery. “If the pandemic forced us to be further away,” said Pope Francis, “Jesus, in the crib, shows us the way of tenderness to be close to each other, to be human.”