Celebrating “Mass During the Night” on Christmas Eve in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis says Jesus’ birth in a manger teaches us to share our lives with our brothers and sisters in need.
“In Bethlehem, we discover that God does not take life, but gives it.”
In his homily at Mass on Christmas Eve, Pope Francis said the location of Jesus’ birth marks a turning point in the course of history.
House of Bread
He noted that Bethlehem means “house of bread”, and that Mary laid Jesus in a manger. “It is as if he wanted to say: ‘Here I am, as your food’.”
The Pope said Jesus gives us his very self, teaching us to live our lives in a new way: “not by devouring and hoarding, but by sharing and giving.” We feed on Jesus, the bread of life, and are reborn in love, breaking the vicious cycle of grasping and greed.
In Scripture, said the Pope, humanity’s original sin was to take and eat a forbidden food. “Mankind became greedy and voracious.” Even today, he said, a few people often eat splendid meals while a great many others go without even enough bread to survive.
“Standing before the manger, we understand that the food of life is not material riches but love, not gluttony but charity, not ostentation but simplicity,” he said.
Share with others
Pope Francis said Jesus knows we need to be fed daily, so he offered himself every day of his life. “Today too, on the altar, he becomes bread broken for us; he knocks at our door, to enter and eat with us.”
If we welcome God into our hearts and allow Him to dwell there, he said, history changes. “For once Jesus dwells in our heart, the centre of life is no longer my ravenous and selfish ego, but the One who is born and lives for love.”
The Holy Father said Jesus invites us at Christmas to rise quickly from the table and to serve others, sharing our bread with those who have none.
Be not afraid
Pope Francis went on to say that Bethlehem is also called the “city of David”. Before becoming king, David was a shepherd whom God chose to shepherd and lead His people.
On Christmas night, shepherds welcomed Jesus in the world. An angel appeared and said to them: “Be not afraid.” The Holy Father said we hear that phrase so often in the Gospels because God knows we are afraid due to our sin.
“Bethlehem is the remedy for this fear, because despite man’s repeated ‘no’, God constantly says ‘yes’. He will always be God-with-us.” God, said Pope Francis, makes Himself a little child so as not to frighten us.
Waiting or wanting?
The shepherds were not sleeping when the angel came; they were keeping watch. The Holy Father said our life can either be marked by waiting or by wanting. If we await the Lord amid “the gloom of our problems”, he said, “we will receive his life.”
But if we only spend our lives in selfish want, “where all that matters are our own strengths and abilities,” he said, “our heart then remains barred to God’s light.”
Pope Francis said the shepherds set out immediately and take a risk for God by leaving their flocks unguarded. After seeing Jesus, they go off to proclaim his birth. “To keep watch, to set out, to risk, to recount the beauty: all these are acts of love,” he said.
Love our brothers and sisters
At Christmas, Pope Francis concluded, we all want to go up to Bethlehem. “Today too, the road is uphill: the heights of our selfishness need to be surmounted, and we must not lose our footing or slide into worldliness and consumerism.”
So we entrust ourselves to the Lord, he said. “Take me upon your shoulders, Good Shepherd; loved by you, I will be able to love my brothers and sisters and to take them by the hand.”
I have been thinking a great deal about my experience at Reconciliation this past Saturday. I felt an intense and unexplainable urge to go and confess my sins when I woke up that morning. I try to go every six weeks or so, but this was no routine visit to the priest for me. I needed to unburden myself of the numerous venial sins I had committed since I last participated in this Sacrament.
Purest Gold: God's Refining Fire in our Lives »
After salvation, many young Christians wonder if there's anything more to their newfound faith than just the security blanket of "being a Christian." Time and time again, God shows himself as a "refiner," and our lives are as gold. God started leading me in this study to understand what He was doing in my life, as well as in the lives of others.
Picking up my pen to write this column, I couldn’t imagine how time flies. Since the last publication of this column I have gone through a lot, especially the loss of my dear mother to whom I dedicate this article. Not only her, but seems I lost a whole generation of my close family.
How to Achieve Business Excellence »
“Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before Kings; He will not stand before unknown men.” Proverbs 22:29
Spiritual Development for our Youth »
Most of us youth in today's fast moving world are easily thrown off by difficulties and worries.
The theme of conversion is a thread that runs all through Lent, but conversion takes on different aspects throughout the phases of Lent. The first two and a half weeks focused on the interior turning of hearts; the liturgy urges the faithful to reflect and examine consciences thoroughly.
Saint Josephine Bakhita »
Feast Day: February 8
Patron Saint Of: Sudan
Saint Josephine Margaret Bakhita was born around 1869 in the village of Olgossa in the Darfur region of Sudan. She was a member of the Daju people and her uncle was a tribal chief. Due to her family lineage, she grew up happy and relatively prosperous, saying that as a child, she did not know suffering.
Catholics Must Fast More Intensely This Lent»
The Norbertine Canons of St. Michael's Abbey have created this digital Lenten retreat so that you can journey through this holy season alongside them. If you want to have one of your best Lenten seasons yet, join us in our Lenten Program "The Great Fast" - https://theabbotscircle.com/the-great-fast-join
When Your Faith Is Put to the Test - Bishop Barron's Sunday Sermon»
Friends, we come now to the Second Sunday of Lent, and we’re on both dangerous and very holy ground with the first reading from the twenty-second chapter of Genesis. The ancient Israelites referred to it as the “Akedah,” which means the “binding”: Abraham binds and is ready to sacrifice Isaac at God’s command.
Copyright © 2002-2024 THE BEACON INTERNATIONAL CATHOLIC MAGAZINE. All rights reserved.
another mc.rufus interactive web design