“Like shepherds who have abandoned their flocks, leave the enclosure of your melancholy and embrace the tenderness of the Child God. Without masks or breastplates, entrust your work to Him, and He will take care of you: He who became flesh waits. Not your successful performances, but your open and trusting heart,” Francis said in his homily at Christmas Eve mass.
Mariangela Jaguraba News from the Vatican
Pope Francis led the Christmas Eve mass in St. Peter's Basilica this Sunday (December 24th).
Francis began his homily by emphasizing the following words of the evangelist Luke: “The numbering of the whole earth.” “This is the context in which Jesus was born and in which the Gospel rests. It could be limited to a brief allusion, but on the contrary, it speaks of him with great care. This creates a great contrast: while the emperor counts.” As an inhabitant of the world, God enters it almost in secret; While those responsible try to count themselves among the greats of history, the king of history chooses the path of smallness. “None of the powerful know him, only a few pastors, placed on the margins of social life,” the Pope said.
“Tonight, brothers and sisters, we can ask ourselves: Which God do we believe in? To the God of Incarnation or to the God of Performance? Yes, because there is a danger of experiencing Christmas with a pagan idea of God in us.” Heads as if he were a powerful boss who is in heaven; a God allied with power, worldly success and the idolatry of consumerism,” Francisco emphasized.
Let's look at the child, let's look at his crib
The Pope invited us to contemplate the “living and true God.” “He, however, who transcends all human calculation, is recorded in our records; He who revolutionizes history by dwelling in it; He who respects us so much that we can reject him; He who blots out sin and takes responsibility.” for him who does not take away the pain but transforms it, who does not take away the problems of our life but gives our life a hope that is greater than the problems. He wants to embrace our existences so much that, being infinite, He became for us “Final; big, he became small; Since he is just, he lives in our injustices,” the pope said, adding:
Here lies the miracle of Christmas: not a mixture of sweet feelings and worldly comforts, but the unparalleled tenderness of God who saves the world by becoming human. Let us look at the child, let us look at his manger, at the manger that the angels call “the sign”: it truly represents the revealing sign of the face of God, who is compassion and mercy, always and alone omnipotently in love.
Flesh, a word that evokes our fragility
The Pope urged us to be “surprised that he became flesh. Meat! A word that evokes our fragility and with which the Gospel tells us how God has penetrated deeply into our human existence.”
“Brother, sister, to God, who changed history during the census, you are not a number but a face; your name is written in his heart,” the Pope emphasized.
Like the shepherds who have abandoned their flocks, leave the fence of your melancholy and embrace the tenderness of the Child God. Without masks or breastplates, entrust your work to Him, and He will take care of you: He who became flesh waits, not your achievements of success, but your heart is open and trusting. And in Him you will discover who you are: a beloved son of God, a beloved daughter of God. Now you can believe it, because on this night the Lord was born to light up your life and his eyes sparkle with love for you.
Worship is the way of welcoming the incarnation
“Yes, Christ does not look at numbers, but at faces. But who looks to him, among the countless things and the crazy races of a world that is always busy and indifferent? In Bethlehem, while many people, concerned about the census, came and went, filling the inns and inns and talking about everything and nothing, there were some who were with Jesus: Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and then the wise men. Let's learn from them. Here they are with their eyes fixed on Jesus, with their hearts fixed on Him; they do not speak, but they worship.”
Worship is the way of accepting the Incarnation, because in the silence Jesus, the Word of the Father, becomes flesh in our lives. Let us also do as we did in Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread”: Let us remain before Him, the Bread of Life. Let us rediscover worship, because worship is not a waste of time, but it is allowing God to inhabit our time. it is about making the seed of the incarnation blossom within us, it is about collaborating in the work of the Lord, who, like yeast, changes the world; It's about interceding, repairing, and allowing God to make history right.
The Pope concluded his homily with the words: “Tonight, love changes history. Grant, Lord, that we may believe in the power of your love, which is so different from the power of the world. Grant that we may be like Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the others.” Wizards, let us gather around you to worship you. Made more like you, we will be able to witness to the world the beauty of your face.”