Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI dedicated his teaching at the general audience on Wednesday 19 December to the mystery of Christmas. “If on the one hand Christmas brings us to commemorate the incredible miracle of the birth of the Only Son of God to the Virgin Mary in the stable at Bethlehem, on the other it exhorts us to watch and pray and wait for our Redeemer who will come on the last day to ‘judge the living and the dead" the Pope said, underlining how the liturgy of the seasons helps us prepare for the great feast of Christmas, highlighting its more profound significance.
In the face of injustices, more or less serious, which we see at all levels of life and society, people are calling for justice, invoking the coming of the Lord Jesus in the world to “create justice in the world”. But “to expect justice in the Christian sense - the Pope said - means above all that we must begin to live under the gaze of the Judge, in keeping with the criteria of the Judge; that we start living in his presence, achieving justice in our lives. Achieving justice, putting ourselves in the presence of the Judge, we wait in reality for justice. And this is the sense of Advent, of keeping watch”.
The Child Jesus born in a stable in Bethlehem, “never tires of visiting us in our daily life… In his waiting the believer is the interpreter of the hopes of all humanity; humanity longs for justice and so, often unawares, it awaits God, it awaits the salvation which only God can give”. For Christians this time of waiting is marked by prayer, as it is apparent from the invocations proposed in these days by the liturgy. “To invoke to gift of the birth of the promised saviour, also means to make every effort to prepare the way, to make a worthy abode not only in the environment around us but above all in our soul” said Benedict XVI.
Unfortunately in our day faith “in the Word which created the world, in the one who came as a Child” and the great hope he has brought to mankind, are “far from the reality of every day life, public or private”. The Holy Father said it was important “for us to be true believes and as believers we reaffirm with our life the mystery of salvation which brings the celebration of the Nativity of Christ!... If we fail to accept that God became man, what sense is there in celebrating Christmas? The celebration becomes empty. We Christians must be the first to reaffirm with profound and genuine conviction the truth of the Nativity of Christ, to witness to all awareness of an unheard of gift which is of great value for us and for all. This is the source of the duty to evangelise which is precisely the communication of this "eu-angelion", this "good news".
In these last days before Christmas the Holy Father urged those present to pray intensely that “violence may be conquered with the power of love, disputes may give way to reconciliation, the will to dominate may become a desire for forgiveness, justice and peace”. Pope Benedict concluded expressing the wish that peace may live in hearts and families and that the Christmas message of solidarity and hospitality may help foster greater sensitivity towards old and new forms of poverty and he said: “May Christmas be for all a celebration of peace and joy: joy for the birth of the Saviour, the Prince of peace…let us ask the Lord to open our hearts so we may enter the mystery of his Christmas. May Mary who offered her virginal womb to the Word of God, who contemplated him as a child in the arms of her mother's arms, and continues to offer him to all as the Redeemer of the world, help us to make Christmas a time to grow in our knowledge and love of Christ”. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/12/2007 - righe 45, parole 678)
