Vatican City, 20 December 2015 (VIS) –
The Holy Father appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican
Apostolic Palace at midday today to pray the Angelus with the
faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square. Among those present there
was a large group of children from the Oratories who eagerly awaited
the blessing of their figurines of the Baby Jesus for their nativity
displays. On the fourth Sunday of Advent the Pope explained that, for
celebrate Christmas in a fruitful way, we must stop in places of
'wonder'.
“The first place is the 'other', whom
we recognise as our brother or sister, as since the birth of Jesus,
every face bears a resemblance to the Son of God, and especially when
it is the face of a poor person, because God entered the world in
poverty and allowed Himself to be approached first by the poor”.
The second place of wonder is history. “Very often we think we see
things in the right way, and instead we risk reading things
backwards. This happens, for instance, when history seems to us to be
determined by the market economy, regulated by finance and business,
dominated by the powers that be. The God of Christmas is instead a
God who 'shuffles the deck'.
“The third place of wonder is the
Church”, he continued. “To look on her with the wonder of faith
means considering the Church not merely as a religious institution –
which the Church is – but to feel that she is also a mother in
whom, despite her warts and wrinkles – there are so many! – the
contours of the bride beloved of and purified by Christ the Lord
shine through. A Church who knows how to recognise the many signs of
faithful love that God continuously sends her. A Church for whom the
Lord Jesus will never be a possession to be zealously defended; those
who do this are mistaken. The Lord Jesus will always be the One who
comes to meet her, Whom she knows to await with trust and joy, giving
a voice to the hopes of the world. The Church who calls to the Lord,
'Come Lord Jesus'. The Mother Church whose doors are always open,
whose arms are open to welcome everyone. The Mother Church goes out
from her own doors to seek, with a mother's smile, all of those who
are far away to bring them to God's mercy. This is the wonder of
Christmas”.
He emphasised that “At Christmas, God
gives Himself to us fully by giving His one and only Son, Who is all
his joy. It is only with the heart of Mary, the humble and poor
daughter of Zion, who become the Mother of the Son of the Most High,
that we can rejoice and be glad for the great gift of God and for His
unexpected surprise. … The encounter with Jesus will let us too
feel this great wonder. But we cannot have this wonder and we cannot
meet Jesus, if we do not meet Him in the other, in history and in the
Church”, he concluded.
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