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Thursday, January 28, 2016
Il desiderio di scrivere ancora

fotolia

Da tanto tempo non scrivo in questo blog-diario. Più di una volta ho messo nella mia programma di scrivere sempre su questo blog. Ho provato anche e sono riuscito a scrivere qualcosa. Quindi, ho portato avanti questo impegno personale. Però, c'è anche la limite da parte mia, cioè a volte ho lasciato questo impegno. Non sono riuscito a scrivere almeno un articolo alla settimana. A volte ho tanti impegni e ovvio che l’ho lasciato. Però, a volte proprio non ho il desiderio di portarlo avanti.

Dopo aver cercato il motivo di questo caso, ho scoperto che il problema non è nei miei impegni, neanche nel desiderio di scrivere. Il problema sarebbe non sono riuscito a mettere apposto la mia giornata.

Certo che gli impegni vengono sempre. La vita senza impegno è vuoto. Credo che non ci sia un uomo che non abbia impegno. Anche un disabilita abbia impegno. Leggere un libro, cantare una canzone, guardare il TV, ascoltare la notizia su radio o telegiornale, eccetera. Tutti noi abbiamo impegno.

Come anche il mio desiderio. Ho sempre il desiderio di scrivere qualcosa nel mio diario. Anzi, ho scritto tanti articoli in indonesiano e ho pubblicato almeno su tre o quattro blog/sito. Mi chiedo, perché non scrivo in italiana? Perché la mia lingua non è ancora bene? Direi che anche se non ho ancora la capacità di scrivere bene in italiano, voglio scrivere. Nessuno è perfetto dice sempre qualcuno. Va meglio secondo me se imparo anche attraverso la scrittura. Per rafforzami in questo impegno, voglio leggere prima gli articoli che a me piacciono di più. Ho trovato almeno un autore che mi piace di più. Mi piace a leggere il suo articolo. Ho trovato anche gli altri però non sono come Padre Alex Zanotelli, un missionario comboniano che scivere sempre su Ningrizia.

Da questo momento voglio continuare questo impegno. Vedo che ho già qualche articolo di Padre Alex che per me è come l’ispirazione di scrivere in modo semplice. Semplice nel senso che gli altri possano capire il mio articolo. Magari anche possano trovare tanti errori. Per me è importante scriverlo. Su errori o no, a me non importa.

Buon inizio ancora a me e buona lettura ai lettori.

Parma, 27/1/2016

Gordi
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Thursday, January 28, 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 20 January 2016



Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
We have listened to the Biblical text which this year guides the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which is taking place this week from 18 to 25 January. That passage from the First Letter of St Peter was chosen by an ecumenical group from Latvia, commissioned by the World Council of Churches and by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

At the centre of the Lutheran Cathedral of Riga there is a baptismal font that dates back to the 12th century, when Latvia was evangelized by St Meinhard. That font is an eloquent sign of the origin of the faith, recognized by all the Christians of Latvia: Catholics, Lutherans and Orthodox. That origin is our shared Baptism. The Second Vatican Council affirms that Baptism “constitutes the sacramental bond of unity existing among all who through it have been reborn” (Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 22). The First Letter of Peter is addressed to the first generation of Christians to make them aware of the gift they received at Baptism and of what that entails. We too, in this Week of Prayer, are invited to rediscover its significance, and to do so together, moving beyond our divisions.

First of all, sharing Baptism means that we are all sinners and need to be saved, redeemed, freed from sin. This is the negative aspect, which the First Letter of Peter calls “darkness” when it says: “[God] called you out of darkness into his marvelous light”. This is the experience of death, what Christ wanted to overcome, and what is symbolized in Baptism by immersion in water, followed by emergence, the symbol of the resurrection to new life in Christ.

When we Christians speak of sharing in one Baptism, we affirm that we all — Catholics, Protestants and Orthodox — share in the experience of being called out of the merciless and alienating darkness to the encounter with the living God, full of mercy. We all, unfortunately, also experience the selfishness, that creates division, withdrawal and contempt. Starting anew from Baptism means rediscovering the font of mercy, the font of hope for all, for no one is excluded from the mercy of God.

The sharing of this grace creates an indissoluble bond between us as Christians, such that, by virtue of Baptism, we can consider ourselves truly brothers and sisters. We are truly the holy people of God, even if, due to our sins, we are not yet a fully united people. The mercy of God, who acts in Baptism, is stronger than our divisions. To the extent that we accept the grace of mercy, we become ever more fully the people of God, and we also become better able to proclaim to all his marvelous deeds, starting with a simple and fraternal testimony of unity. We Christians can proclaim to all people the power of the Gospel by committing ourselves to sharing in the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. This is a concrete testimony of unity among us Christians: Protestant, Orthodox and Catholic.

In conclusion, dear brothers and sisters, we Christians have all, by the grace of Baptism, been shown mercy by God and been welcomed into his people. We, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, form one royal priesthood and one holy nation. This means that we have one common mission, which is to pass the mercy we have received on to others, beginning with the poor and abandoned. During this Week of Prayer, let us pray that all of us, disciples of Christ, may find a way to cooperate with one another to bring the mercy of the Father to every part of the earth.

Special greetings:
I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from New Zealand and the United States of America. In the context of this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, I offer a special greeting to the group from the Bossey Ecumenical Institute. Upon all of you, and your families, I invoke an abundance of joy and peace in our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you all!
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Monday, January 25, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 17 January 2016



Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

This Sunday’s Gospel presents the prodigious event that occurred at Cana, a village in Galilee, during a wedding feast also attended by Mary and Jesus, with his first disciples (cf. Jn 2:1-11). The Mother points out to her Son that the wine has run out, and, after responding that his hour had not yet come, Jesus nevertheless accepts her request and gives to the bride and groom the best wine of the entire feast. The Evangelist underlines that this was the first of the signs Jesus performed; it “manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him” (v. 11).

Miracles, thus, are extraordinary signs that accompany the Good News and have the purpose of causing or strengthening faith in Jesus. In the miracle performed at Cana, we are able to glimpse an act of benevolence on the part of Jesus toward the bride and groom, a sign of God’s blessing on the marriage. The love between a man and a woman is therefore a good path through which to live the Gospel, that is, to set out with joy on the path of holiness.

Yet the miracle at Cana does not pertain only to spouses. Every human person is called to encounter the Lord in his or her life. Christian faith is a gift which we receive in Baptism and which allows us to encounter God. Faith intersects times of joy and pain, of light and darkness, as in every authentic experience of love. The narrative of the wedding at Cana invites us to rediscover that Jesus does not present himself to us as a judge ready to condemn our faults, nor as a commander who imposes upon us to blindly follow his orders; he is manifest as Saviour of mankind, as brother, as our elder brother, Son of the Father: he presents himself as he who responds to the expectations and promises of joy that dwell in the heart of each one of us.

Thus we can ask ourselves: do I really know the Lord like this? Do I feel him close to me, to my life? Am I responding to him on the wavelength of that spousal love which he manifests each day to everyone, to every human being? It is about realizing that Jesus looks for us and invites us to make room in the inner reaches of our heart. In this walk of faith with him we are not left alone: we have received the gift of the Blood of Christ. The large stone jars that Jesus had filled with water in order to transform it into wine (v. 7) are a sign of the passage from the old to the new covenant: in place of the water used for the rites of purification, we have received the Blood of Jesus, poured out in a sacramental way in the Eucharist and in the bloodstained way of the Passion and of the Cross. The Sacraments, which originate from the Pascal Mystery, instill in us supernatural strength and enable us to experience the infinite mercy of God.

May the Virgin Mary, model of meditation of the words and acts of the Lord, help us to rediscover with faith the beauty and richness of the Eucharist and of the other Sacraments, which render present God’s faithful love for us. In this way we fall ever more in love with the Lord Jesus, our Bridegroom, and we go to meet him with our lamps alight with our joyous faith, thus becoming his witnesses in the world.
After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, today the World Day of Migrants and Refugees, taking place in the context of the Holy Year of Mercy, is also celebrated as the Jubilee of Migrants. Therefore, I am pleased to greet with great affection the ethnic communities present here, all of you, from various regions of Italy, especially Lazio. Dear migrants and refugees, each of you carries within you a story, a culture, precious values; and often, sadly, also experiences of misery, oppression, fear. Your presence in this Square is a sign of hope in God. Do not let them rob you of the hope and joy of living, which springs from the experience of divine mercy, thanks also to the people who welcome you and help you. May your passing through the Holy Door and the Mass which you will experience shortly, fill your heart with peace. In this Mass I would like to thank — and you too, thank them with me — the detainees of the prison in Opera [Italy], for the gift of the hosts which they packaged themselves and which will be used in this celebration. Let us greet them with a round of applause from here, all together....

I affectionately greet all of you, pilgrims from Italy and other countries.

Now I invite everyone together to convey to God a prayer for the victims of the attacks that occurred in recent days in Indonesia and Burkina Faso. May the Lord welcome them in his house, and sustain the international community’s efforts to build peace. Let us pray to Our Lady: Hail Mary...

I wish you all a happy Sunday. Please do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!


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Thursday, January 21, 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, 13 January 2016
4. The Mercy of God

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
Today we shall begin the catecheses on mercy according to the biblical perspective, in order to learn mercy by listening to what God himself teaches us through his Word. We shall start with the Old Testament, which prepares us and leads us to the full revelation of Jesus Christ, in whom the mercy of the Father is fully revealed.

In Sacred Scripture, the Lord is presented as a “merciful God”. This is his name, through which he unveils, so to speak, his face and his heart to us. As the Book of Exodus recounts, on revealing himself to Moses he defined himself in this way: “the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (34:6). We also find this formula in other texts, with certain variations, but the emphasis is always placed on mercy and on the love of God who never tires of forgiving (cf. Gen 4:2; Joel 2:13; Ps 86 [85]: 15, 103 [102]: 8, 145[144]:8; Neh 9:17). Together let us consider, one by one, these words of Sacred Scripture which speak to us about God.

The Lord is “merciful”: this word evokes a tender approach like that of a mother toward her child. Indeed, the Hebrew term used in the Bible evokes the viscera or even the maternal womb. Therefore, the image it suggests is that of a God who is moved and who softens for us like a mother when she takes her child in her arms, wanting only to love, protect, help, ready to give everything, even herself. This is the image that this term evokes. A love, therefore, which can be defined in the best sense as “visceral”.

Then it is written that the Lord is “gracious”, in the sense of having grace, he has compassion and, in his greatness, he bends down to those who are weak and poor, ever ready to welcome, to understand, to forgive. He is like the father in the parable recounted in the Gospel of Luke (cf. Lk 15:11-32): a father who does not withdraw in resentment at the younger son for having forsaken him, but on the contrary, he continues to await him — he begot him — and then he runs to meet him and embraces him. He does not even let him explain — as though he had covered his mouth — so great is his love and joy at having found him again. Then the father also goes to call the older son who is offended and does not want to join in the celebration, the son who always stayed home and who lived more as a servant than as a son. To him too, the father bends down, invites him to enter, tries to open his heart to love, so that no one is excluded from the celebration of mercy. Mercy is a celebration!

It is also said of this merciful God that he is “slow to anger”, literally, “of great breadth”, that is, having a broad capacity of forbearance and patience. God knows how to wait, his time is not the impatient one of man; he is like the wise farmer who knows how to wait, allowing time for the good seed to grow, in spite of the weeds (cf. Mt 13:24-30).

Lastly, the Lord proclaims himself “abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness”. How beautiful this definition of God is! It is all-encompassing. For God is great and powerful, and this greatness and power are used to love us, who are so small, so incompetent. The word “love”, used here, indicates affection, grace, goodness. It is not soap opera love.... It is love which takes the first step, which does not depend on human merit but on immense gratuitousness. It is divine solicitude that nothing can impede, not even sin, because it is able to go beyond sin, to overcome evil and forgive it.

Abounding in “faithfulness”: this is the final word of God’s revelation to Moses. God’s faithfulness never fails, because the Lord is the guardian who, as the Psalm says, never slumbers but keeps constant vigil over us in order to lead us to life: “May he not suffer your foot to slip; may he slumber not who guards you: Indeed he neither slumbers nor sleeps, the guardian of Israel.... The Lord will guard you from all evil; he will guard your life. The Lord will guard your coming and your going, both now and forever” (Ps 121[120]:3-4, 7-8).

This merciful God is faithful in his mercy and St Paul says something beautiful: if you are not faithful to him, he will remain faithful, for he cannot deny himself. Faithfulness in mercy is the very being of God. For this reason God is totally and always trustworthy. A solid and steadfast presence. This is the assurance of our faith. Thus, in this Jubilee of Mercy, let us entrust ourselves to him totally, and experience the joy of being loved by this “God who is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love and faithfulness”.

Special greetings:
Before concluding our meeting, in which we have reflected together on the Mercy of God, I encourage you to pray for the victims of the attack that occurred yesterday in Istanbul. May the Lord, the All Merciful, grant eternal peace to the victims, comfort to their families, steadfast solidarity to society as a whole, and convert the hearts of the aggressors.

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including the pilgrimage groups from Ireland, Finland and the United States of America. With prayerful good wishes that the Church’s celebration of the Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for all, I invoke upon you and your families an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord. God bless you all!
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Monday, January 18, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
FEAST OF THE BAPTISM OF THE LORD
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 10 January 2016



Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

On this Sunday after the Epiphany, we celebrate the Baptism of Jesus, and we gratefully recall our Baptism. In this context, this morning I baptized 26 infants: let us pray for them!

The Gospel presents Jesus, in the waters of the River Jordan, at the centre of a wondrous divine revelation. St Luke writes: “when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form, as a dove, and a voice came from heaven, ‘Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased’” (Lk 3:21-22). In this way Jesus is consecrated and manifested by the Father as the Saviour Messiah and liberator.

In this event — attested by all four Gospels — is the passing from the baptism of John the Baptist, symbolized by water, to the Baptism of Jesus “with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Lk 3:16). Indeed, the Holy Spirit is the principal artisan in Christian Baptism: it is he who burns and destroys original sin, restoring to the baptized the beauty of divine grace; it is he who frees us from the dominion of darkness, namely sin, and transfers us to the kingdom of light, namely love, truth and peace: this is the kingdom of light. Let us think about the dignity to which Baptism elevates us! “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are” (1 Jn 3:1), the Apostle John exclaims. This splendid reality of being Children of God entails the responsibility of following Jesus, the obedient Servant, and reproduces his lineaments in our very selves: namely docility, humility, tenderness. This is not easy, especially when there is so much intolerance, arrogance, harshness around us. But with the strength we receive from the Holy Spirit it is possible!

The Holy Spirit, received for the first time on the day of our Baptism, opens our heart to the Truth, to all Truth. The Spirit impels our life on the challenging but joyful path of charity and solidarity toward our brothers and sisters. The Spirit gives us the tenderness of divine forgiveness and permeates us with the invincible power of the Father’s mercy. Let us not forget that the Holy Spirit is a living and vivifying presence in those who welcome him, he prays in us and fills us with spiritual joy.

Today, the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, let us ponder the day of our Baptism. All of us were baptized, let us give thanks for this gift. I ask you a question: which of you knows the date of your Baptism? Surely not everyone. Therefore, I encourage you to find out the date, by asking, for example, your parents, your grandparents, your godparents, or going to the parish. It is very important to know it, because it is a date to be celebrated: it is the date of our rebirth as Children of God. For this reason, homework for this week: go and find out the date of your Baptism. Celebrating that day means and reaffirms our adherence to Jesus, with the commitment to live as Christians, members of the Church and of a new humanity, in which all are brothers and sisters.

May the Virgin Mary, first Disciple of her Son Jesus, help us to live our Baptism with joy and apostolic zeal, welcoming each day the gift of the Holy Spirit, which makes us Children of God.
After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, I greet all of you, faithful of Rome and pilgrims from Italy and other countries.

As I said, on this Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, according to tradition I baptized many children. Now I would like to convey a special blessing to all children who were recently baptized, but also to young people and adults who have recently received the sacraments of Christian initiation or are preparing for them. May the grace of Christ always accompany them!

I wish a happy Sunday to all. Do not forget the homework: find out the date of your Baptism. And please, do not forget to pray for me too. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!

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Thursday, January 14, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
SOLEMNITY OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
Saint Peter's Square
Wednesday, 6 January 2016



Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!

In today’s Gospel, the narrative of the Magi coming from the East to Bethlehem to adore the Messiah, conveys a breath of universality to the Feast of the Epiphany. This is the breath of the Church which wants all peoples of the earth to be able to encounter Jesus, to experience his merciful love. This is the desire of the Church: that peoples may find Jesus’ mercy, his love. Christ is newly born, he does not yet know how to speak, and already people — represented by the Magi — can meet him, recognize him, worship him. The Wise Men stated: “we have seen his star in the East, and have come to worship him” (Mt 2:2). Herod heard this as soon as the Magi arrived in Jerusalem. These Wise Men were prestigious men, of a distant religion and different culture, and they were on their way to the land of Israel to worship the newborn king. The Church has always seen in them the image of humanity as a whole, and with today’s celebration of the Feast of the Epiphany, the Church almost tries to direct, respectfully, each man and each woman of this world to the Child who is born for the salvation of all. On Christmas Eve Jesus manifested himself to shepherds, humble and scorned men — some say brigands. They were the first to bring a little warmth to that gelid cave in Bethlehem. Then the Magi arrived from faraway lands. They too were mysteriously drawn by that Child. The shepherds and the Wise Men were very different from each other; however, they had one thing in common: heaven. The shepherds of Bethlehem immediately hastened to see Jesus, not because they were particularly good, but because they kept watch in the night and, raising their eyes to heaven, they saw a sign, they heard its message and followed it. It was the same for the Magi: they observed the heavens, saw a new star, interpreted the sign and set out on their journey, from afar. The shepherds and the Wise Men teach us that in order to encounter Jesus it is necessary to be able to lift our gaze to heaven, not to withdraw into ourselves, into our own selfishness, but to have our heart and mind open to the horizons of God, who always surprises us, to be able to welcome his messages and respond with readiness and generosity.

When the Magi, the Gospel says, “saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly” (Mt 2:10). For us too, there is great comfort in seeing the star, in other words in feeling guided and not abandoned to our fate. The star is the Gospel, the Word of the Lord, as the Psalm states: “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” (119[118]:105). This light guides us to Christ. Without listening to the Gospel, it is impossible to encounter him! The Wise Men, indeed, by following the star arrived at the place where they found Jesus. Here “they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him” (Mt 2:11). The experience of the Magi exhorts us not to be satisfied with mediocrity, not to “cut corners”, but to seek the meaning of things, to fervently explore the great mystery of life. It teaches us not to be scandalized by smallness and poverty but to recognize majesty in in humility, and to be able to kneel before it.

May the Virgin Mary, who welcomed the Wise Men in Bethlehem, help us to lift our gaze from ourselves, to allow ourselves to be guided by the star of the Gospel in order to encounter Jesus, and to be able to humble ourselves to adore him. In this way we will be able to bring to others a ray of his light, and to share with them the joy of the journey.
After the Angelus:
Dear brothers and sisters, today let us express our spiritual closeness to our Christian brothers and sisters of the East, Catholics and Orthodox, many of whom will celebrate the Birth of the Lord tomorrow. May our wishes of peace and good will reach them, along with a nice round of applause as a greeting!

Let us also remember that the Epiphany is the World Day for Missionary Childhood. It is the feast of the children who, through their prayers and sacrifices, help their neediest peers by being missionaries and witnesses of brotherhood and sharing.
I express my warm greeting to all of you, individual pilgrims, families, parish groups and associations, from Italy and from various countries.

I wish a happy feast day to all. Please do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!
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Monday, January 11, 2016
ANGELUS POPE FRANCIS
Saint Peter's Square
Sunday, 3 January 2016



Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Sunday!

The Liturgy today, the Second Sunday after Christmas, presents us the Prologue of the Gospel of St John, in which it is proclaimed that “the Word” — that is, the creative Word of God — “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn 1:14). In other words, that Word, which dwells in heaven in the dimension of God, came upon the earth so that we should hear it and we could know and physically touch the Love of the Father. The Word of God is his Only Begotten Son, having become man, full of love and devotion (cf. Jn 1:14); it is Jesus himself.

The Evangelist does not hide the dramatic nature of the Incarnation of the Son of God, emphasizing that the gift of God’s love is marked by mankind’s failure to receive it. The Word is the light, yet mankind preferred darkness; the Word came among his own, but they received him not (cf. vv. 9-10). They closed the door in the face of God’s Son. It is the mystery of evil that undermines our life too, and it requires vigilance and attention on our part so that it does not prevail. The Book of Genesis offers a nice phrase that lets us understand this: it says that sin is “couching at the door” (cf. 4:7). Woe to us should we let it enter; lest sin would close our door to anyone else. Instead we are called to open wide the door of our heart to the Word of God, to Jesus, in order to become his children in this way.

On Christmas Day this solemn beginning of the Gospel of John was proclaimed; today it is offered to us once again. It is the invitation of the Holy Mother Church to welcome this Word of salvation, this mystery of light. If we welcome him, if we welcome Jesus, we will grow in the knowledge and the love of the Lord, we will learn to be merciful like him. Particularly in this Holy Year of Mercy, let us allow the Gospel to become ever more incarnate in our lives as well. Approaching the Gospel, contemplating it, and embodying it in daily life is the best way to come to know Jesus and to bring him to others. This is the vocation and the joy of every baptized person: to reveal and give Jesus to others; but in order to do this we must know him and bear him within us, as the Lord of our life. He protects us from the evil one, from the devil, who is always lurking at our door, at our heart, and wants to get in.

With a renewed impetus of filial abandon, let us entrust ourselves once again to Mary: may we contemplate her gentle image as the Mother of Jesus and our Mother in the nativity scene during these days.

After the Angelus:

Dear brothers and sisters, I address a cordial greeting to you, the faithful of Rome and pilgrims from Italy and from other countries. I greet the families, associations, various parish groups, in particular that of Monzambano, the confirmands of Bonate Sotto and the young people of Maleo.

On this first Sunday of the year I renew to everyone wishes of peace and goodness in the Lord. In glad moments and in sad ones, let us entrust ourselves to him, who is our mercy and our hope! I also recall the commitment that we undertook on New Year’s Day, the Day of Peace: “Overcome Indifference and Win Peace”; by the grace of God, we will be able to put it into practice. I recall as well the advice that I have so often given you: every day read a passage of the Gospel, a verse of the Gospel, in order to know Jesus better, to open our hearts wide to Jesus, and in this way we can help others to know him better. Carry a small Gospel in your pocket, in your purse: it will do you good. Do not forget: read a passage of the Gospel each day.

I wish you a happy Sunday and a good lunch. And please, please, do not forget to pray for me. Arrivederci.



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Monday, January 11, 2016
GENERAL AUDIENCE POPE FRANCIS
Wednesday, 30 December 2015



Brothers and Sisters, Good morning!
In these days of Christmas the Child Jesus is placed before us. I am certain that in our homes many families still have a nativity scene arranged, continuing this beautiful tradition brought about by St Francis of Assisi which keeps alive in our hearts the mystery of God who became man.

Devotion to the Child Jesus is widespread. Many saints cultivated this devotion in their daily prayers, and wished to model their lives after that of the Child Jesus. I think in particular of St Thérèse of Lisieux, who as a Carmelite nun took the name Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Holy Face. She is also a Doctor of the Church who knew how to live and witness to the “spiritual childhood” which is assimilated through meditation, as the Virgin Mary taught, on the humility of God who became small for us. This is a great mystery. God is humble! We, who are proud and full of vanity, believe we are something big: we are nothing! He, the Great One, is humble and becomes a child. This is a true mystery. God is humble. This is beautiful!

There was a time in which, in the divine-human Person of Christ, God was a child, and this must hold a particular significance for our faith. It is true that his death on the cross and his Resurrection are the highest expressions of his redeeming love, however let us not forget that the whole of his earthly life is revelation and teaching. In the Christmas season we remember his childhood. In order to grow in faith we will need to contemplate the Child Jesus more often. Certainly, we know nothing of this period of his life. The rare indications that we possess refer to the imposition of his name eight days after his birth and his presentation at the Temple (cf. Lk 2:21-28); in addition to this, the visit of the Magi and the ensuing escape to Egypt (cf. Mt 2:1-23). Then, there is a great leap to 12 years of age, when with Mary and Joseph he goes in pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover, and instead of returning with his parents, he remains in the Temple to speak with the doctors of the law.

As we see, we know little of the Child Jesus, but we can learn much about him if we look to the lives of children. It is a beautiful habit that parents and grandparents have, that of watching what the children do.

We discover, first of all, that children want our attention. They have to be at the centre — why? Because they are proud? No! Because they need to feel protected. It is important that we too place Jesus at the centre of our life and know, even if it may seem paradoxical, that it is our responsibility to protect him. He wants to be in our embrace, he wants to be tended to and to be able to fix his gaze on ours. Additionally, we must make the Child Jesus smile in order to show him our love and our joy that he is in our midst. His smile is a sign of the love that gives us the assurance of being loved. Children, lastly, love to play. Playing with children, however, means abandoning our logic in order to enter theirs. If we want to have fun it is necessary to understand what they like, and not to be selfish and make them do the things that we like. It is a lesson for us. Before Jesus we are called to abandon our pretense of autonomy — and this is the crux of the matter: our pretense of autonomy — in order to instead accept the true form of liberty, which consists in knowing and serving whom we have before us. He, the Child, is the Son of God who comes to save us. He has come among us to show us the face of the Father abounding in love and mercy. Therefore, let us hold the Child Jesus tightly in our arms; let us place ourselves at his service. He is the font of love and serenity. It will be beautiful today, when we get home, to go to the nativity scene and kiss the Baby Jesus and say: “Jesus, I want to be humble like you, humble like God”, and to ask him for this grace.

Special greetings:
I invite prayers for the victims of the natural disasters that have recently struck the United States, Great Britain and South America, particularly Paraguay, sadly claiming lives, displacing many people and causing extensive damage. May the Lord give comfort to those peoples, and may fraternal solidarity support them in their needs.

I greet the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including the pilgrimage groups from Norway, the Philippines and the United States of America. I thank the choirs for their praise of God in song. With prayerful good wishes that the the Church’s celebration of the Jubilee of Mercy will be a moment of grace and spiritual renewal for all, I invoke upon you and your families an abundance of joy and peace in the Lord. Happy New Year!

I wish for all that the light of Christ, which shined upon mankind on Christmas Eve, may spread in your daily life.

I address a special thought to young people, to the sick and to newlyweds. May the icon of the nativity scene which we contemplate in these days help you, dear young people, to imitate the Holy Family, model of true love. May it sustain you, dear sick people, to offer your suffering in union with that of Jesus for the salvation of the world. May it encourage you, dear newlyweds, to edify your household on the rock of the Word of God, rendering it, on the example of that of Nazareth, a welcoming place, filled with love, understanding and forgiveness.

© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana


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Sunday, January 10, 2016
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PRM, 10/1/2016
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