Vatican City, 22 December 2014 (VIS) –
This morning Pope Francis met with employees of the Holy See, whom he
thanked fervently for their work during the last year. He dedicated
some special words to the Italians present, as “during all the
history of the Church and the Roman Curia they have worked regularly
with a generous and faithful spirit, placing at the service of the
Holy See and Peter's Successor their unique laboriousness and filial
devotion, offering the Church great Saints, Popes, martyrs,
missionaries and artists that no passing cloud in history will be
able to obscure”. He also thanked workers from other countries,
“who generously work in the Curia, far from their homelands and
their families, representing for the Curia the face of the Church's
'Catholicity'”.
The Pope encouraged those present to
consider a text that he had mentioned in his discourse to the Roman
Curia shortly beforehand, treating it as a “starting point for a
fruitful examination of conscience in preparation for the Holy
Nativity and the New Year. He exhorted them to receive the Sacrament
of Confession “with a docile heart, to receive the mercy of the
Lord, who knocks on the door of our heart, in the joy of the family”.
Francis emphasised the word “care”
and explained that “caring means manifesting diligent and
thoughtful interest, that directs our heart and our activities
towards someone or something; it means looking with attention to
those who are in need of care without thinking of anything else; it
means accepting to give or receive care”. To “transform this Holy
Nativity into a true opportunity to heal every wound and every lack”,
he urged those present to take care of their spiritual life, their
relationship with God, and to look after their family life and
relationships with others. This means caring about one's way of
speaking, purifying language of offensive words; healing the wounds
of the heart with the oil of forgiveness; caring for one's work,
performing it with enthusiasm, humility and passion; curing oneself
of envy, lust, hatred and the negative feelings that devour our inner
peace and transform us into destroyed and destructive people; curing
oneself of the rancour that leads us to revenge and the idleness that
leads to existential euthanasia. Caring for the poorest, the elderly,
the sick, the hungry, the homeless and foreigners, and making sure
that the Holy Nativity never becomes a celebration of commercial
consumerism, appearances and pointless gifts, or superfluous waste,
but rather of the joy of welcoming the Lord into the creche of the
heart”.
“Imagine how our world would change
if each one of us began straight away”, he remarked. “This is the
true Nativity: the feast of the poverty of the God Who annihilated
Himself, assuming the nature of a slave; of God Who served at the
table; of God Who hid Himself from the intelligent and the wise and
instead revealed Himself to the smallest, the simple and the poor. It
is above all the feast of Peace brought to earth by the baby Jesus, …
the peace the Angels sang”. He continued, “Peace needs our
enthusiasm, our care, to warm our frozen hearts, to encourage
distrusting souls and to brighten jaded eyes with the light of Jesus'
face”.
The Pope concluded by asking
forgiveness for his shortcomings, and those of his colleagues, and
also for the various scandals “that do a great deal of damage”,
he commented. “Forgive me and, please, pray for me”.
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