Christmas - Natale - Navidad - Noël 2006
Pope Benedict XVI's homily at Christmas Midnight Mass
St Peter's Basilica - also in Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish
"Dear Brothers and Sisters!
We have just heard in the Gospel the message given by the angels to the shepherds during that Holy Night, a message which the Church now proclaims to us: "To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger" (Lk 2:11-12). Nothing miraculous, nothing extraordinary, nothing magnificent is given to the shepherds as a sign. All they will see is a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, one who, like all children, needs a mother’s care; a child born in a stable, who therefore lies not in a cradle but in a manger. God ’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty. Only in their hearts will the shepherds be able to see that this baby fulfils the promise of the prophet Isaiah, which we heard in the first reading: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder" (Is 9:5). Exactly the same sign has been given to us. We too are invited by the angel of God, through the message of the Gospel, to set out in our hearts to see the child lying in the manger.
God’s sign is simplicity. God’s sign is the baby. God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby – defenceless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will – we learn to live with him and to practise with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love. God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome him, and love him. The Fathers of the Church, in their Greek translation of the Old Testament, found a passage from the prophet Isaiah that Paul also quotes in order to show how God’s new ways had already been foretold in the Old Testament. There we read: "God made his Word short, he abbreviated it" (Is 10:23; Rom 9:28). The Fathers interpreted this in two ways. The Son himself is the Word, the Logos; the eternal Word became small – small enough to fit into a manger. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way he teaches us to love the weak. In this way he teaches us respect for children. The child of Bethlehem directs our gaze towards all children who suffer and are abused in the world, the born and the unborn. Towards children who are placed as soldiers in a violent world; towards children who have to beg; towards children who suffer deprivation and hunger; towards children who are unloved. In all of these it is the Child of Bethlehem who is crying out to us; it is the God who has become small who appeals to us. Let us pray this night that the brightness of God’s love may enfold all these children. Let us ask God to help us do our part so that the dignity of children may be respected. May they all experience the light of love, which mankind needs so much more than the material necessities of life.
And so we come to the second meaning that the Fathers saw in the phrase: "God made his Word short". The Word which God speaks to us in Sacred Scripture had become long in the course of the centuries. It became long and complex, not just for the simple and unlettered, but even more so for those versed in Sacred Scripture, for the experts who evidently became entangled in details and in particular problems, almost to the extent of losing an overall perspective. Jesus "abbreviated" the Word – he showed us once more its deeper simplicity and unity. Everything taught by the Law and the Prophets is summed up – he says – in the command: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind… You shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Mt 22:37-40). This is everything – the whole faith is contained in this one act of love which embraces God and humanity. Yet now further questions arise: how are we to love God with all our mind, when our intellect can barely reach him? How are we to love him with all our heart and soul, when our heart can only catch a glimpse of him from afar, when there are so many contradictions in the world that would hide his face from us? This is where the two ways in which God has "abbreviated" his Word come together. He is no longer distant. He is no longer unknown. He is no longer beyond the reach of our heart. He has become a child for us, and in so doing he has dispelled all doubt. He has become our neighbour, restoring in this way the image of man, whom we often find so hard to love. For us, God has become a gift. He has given himself. He has entered time for us. He who is the Eternal One, above time, he has assumed our time and raised it to himself on high. Christmas has become the Feast of gifts in imitation of God who has given himself to us. Let us allow our heart, our soul and our mind to be touched by this fact! Among the many gifts that we buy and receive, let us not forget the true gift: to give each other something of ourselves, to give each other something of our time, to open our time to God. In this way anxiety disappears, joy is born, and the feast is created. During the festive meals of these days let us remember the Lord’s words: "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite those who will invite you in return, but invite those whom no one invites and who are not able to invite you" (cf Lk 14:12-14). This also means: when you give gifts for Christmas, do not give only to those who will give to you in return, but give to those who receive from no one and who cannot give you anything back. This is what God has done: he invites us to his wedding feast, something which we cannot reciprocate, but can only receive with joy. Let us imitate him! Let us love God and, starting from him, let us also love man, so that, starting from man, we can then rediscover God in a new way!
And so, finally, we find yet a third meaning in the saying that the Word became "brief" and "small". The shepherds were told that they would find the child in a manger for animals, who were the rightful occupants of the stable. Reading Isaiah (1:3), the Fathers concluded that beside the manger of Bethlehem there stood an ox and an ass. At the same time they interpreted the text as symbolizing the Jews and the pagans – and thus all humanity – who each in their own way have need of a Saviour: the God who became a child. Man, in order to live, needs bread, the fruit of the earth and of his labour. But he does not live by bread alone. He needs nourishment for his soul: he needs meaning that can fill his life. Thus, for the Fathers, the manger of the animals became the symbol of the altar, on which lies the Bread which is Christ himself: the true food for our hearts. Once again we see how he became small: in the humble appearance of the host, in a small piece of bread, he gives us himself.
All this is conveyed by the sign that was given to the shepherds and is given also to us: the child born for us, the child in whom God became small for us. Let us ask the Lord to grant us the grace of looking upon the crib this night with the simplicity of the shepherds, so as to receive the joy with which they returned home. Let us ask him to give us the humility and the faith with which Saint Joseph looked upon the child that Mary had conceived by the Holy Spirit. Let us ask the Lord to let us look upon him with that same love with which Mary saw him. And let us pray that in this way the light that the shepherds saw will shine upon us too, and that what the angels sang that night will be accomplished throughout the world: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Amen!"
Papa Benedetto's Urbi et Orbi Message on Christmas Day
Central Loggia, the Vatican, Christmas Day, 25th December 2006 - in English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese & Spanish
""Salvator noster natus est in mundo." (Roman Missal)
"Our Saviour is born to the world!" During the night, in our Churches, we again heard this message that, notwithstanding the passage of the centuries, remains ever new. It is the heavenly message that tells us to fear not, for "a great joy" has come "to all the people" (Lk 1, 10). It is a message of hope, for it tells us that, on that night over two thousand years ago, there "was born in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord" (Lk 2, 11). The Angel of Christmas announced it then to the shepherds out on the hills of Bethlehem; today the Angel repeats it to us, to all who dwell in our world: "The Saviour is born; he is born for you! Come, come, let us adore him!"
But does a 'Saviour' still have any value and meaning for the men and women of the third millennium? Is a 'Saviour' still needed by a humanity which has reached the moon and Mars and is prepared to conquer the universe; for a humanity which knows no limits in its pursuit of nature’s secrets and which has succeeded even in deciphering the marvellous codes of the human genome? Is a Saviour needed by a humanity which has invented interactive communication, which navigates in the virtual ocean of the internet and, thanks to the most advanced modern communications technologies, has now made the Earth, our great common home, a global village? This humanity of the 21st century appears as a sure and self-sufficient master of its own destiny, the avid proponent of uncontested triumphs.
So it would seem, yet this is not the case. People continue to die of hunger and thirst, disease and poverty, in this age of plenty and of unbridled consumerism. Some people remain enslaved, exploited and stripped of their dignity; others are victims of racial and religious hatred, hampered by intolerance and discrimination, and by political interference and physical or moral coercion with regard to the free profession of their faith. Others see their own bodies and those of their dear ones, particularly their children, maimed by weaponry, by terrorism and by all sorts of violence, at a time when everyone invokes and acclaims progress, solidarity and peace for all. And what of those who, bereft of hope, are forced to leave their homes and countries in order to find humane living conditions elsewhere? How can we help those who are misled by facile prophets of happiness, those who struggle with relationships and are incapable of accepting responsibility for their present and future, those who are trapped in the tunnel of loneliness and who often end up enslaved to alcohol or drugs? What are we to think of those who choose death in the belief that they are celebrating life?
How can we not hear, from the very depths of this humanity, at once joyful and anguished, a heart-rending cry for help? It is Christmas: today "the true light that enlightens every man" (Jn 1, 9) came into the world. "The word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1, 14), proclaims the Evangelist John. Today, this very day, Christ comes once more "unto his own", and to those who receive him he gives "the power to become children of God"; in a word, he offers them the opportunity to see God’s glory and to share the joy of that Love which became incarnate for us in Bethlehem. Today "our Saviour is born to the world", for he knows that even today we need him. Despite humanity’s many advances, man has always been the same: a freedom poised between good and evil, between life and death. It is there, in the very depths of his being, in what the Bible calls his "heart", that man always needs to be "saved". And, in this post-modern age, perhaps he needs a Saviour all the more, since the society in which he lives has become more complex and the threats to his personal and moral integrity have become more insidious. Who can defend him, if not the One who loves him to the point of sacrificing on the Cross his only-begotten Son as the Saviour of the world?
"Salvator noster": Christ is also the Saviour of men and women today. Who will make this message of hope resound, in a credible way, in every corner of the earth? Who will work to ensure the recognition, protection and promotion of the integral good of the human person as the condition for peace, respecting each man and every woman and their proper dignity? Who will help us to realize that with good will, reasonableness and moderation it is possible to avoid aggravating conflicts and instead to find fair solutions? With deep apprehension I think, on this festive day, of the Middle East, marked by so many grave crises and conflicts, and I express my hope that the way will be opened to a just and lasting peace, with respect for the inalienable rights of the peoples living there. I place in the hands of the divine Child of Bethlehem the indications of a resumption of dialogue between the Israelis and Palestinians, which we have witnessed in recent days, and the hope of further encouraging developments. I am confident that, after so many victims, destruction and uncertainty, a democratic Lebanon, open to others and in dialogue with different cultures and religions, will survive and progress. I appeal to all those who hold in their hands the fate of Iraq, that there will be an end to the brutal violence that has brought so much bloodshed to the country, and that every one of its inhabitants will be safe to lead a normal life. I pray to God that in Sri Lanka the parties in conflict will heed the desire of the people for a future of brotherhood and solidarity; that in Darfur and throughout Africa there will be an end to fratricidal conflicts, that the open wounds in that continent will quickly heal and that the steps being made towards reconciliation, democracy and development will be consolidated. May the Divine Child, the Prince of Peace, grant an end to the outbreaks of tension that make uncertain the future of other parts of the world, in Europe and in Latin America.
"Salvator noster": this is our hope; this is the message that the Church proclaims once again this Christmas day. With the Incarnation, as the Second Vatican Council stated, the Son of God has in some way united himself with each man and woman (cf Gaudium et Spes, 22). The birth of the Head is also the birth of the body, as Pope Saint Leo the Great noted. In Bethlehem the Christian people was born, Christ’s mystical body, in which each member is closely joined to the others in total solidarity. Our Saviour is born for all. We must proclaim this not only in words, but by our entire life, giving the world a witness of united, open communities where fraternity and forgiveness reign, along with acceptance and mutual service, truth, justice and love.
A community saved by Christ. This is the true nature of the Church, which draws her nourishment from his Word and his Eucharistic Body. Only by rediscovering the gift she has received can the Church bear witness to Christ the Saviour before all people. She does this with passionate enthusiasm, with full respect for all cultural and religious traditions; she does so joyfully, knowing that the One she proclaims takes away nothing that is authentically human, but instead brings it to fulfilment. In truth, Christ comes to destroy only evil, only sin; everything else, all the rest, he elevates and perfects. Christ does not save us from our humanity, but through it; he does not save us from the world, but came into the world, so that through him the world might be saved (cf Jn 3, 17).
Dear brothers and sisters, wherever you may be, may this message of joy and hope reach your ears: God became man in Jesus Christ, he was born of the Virgin Mary and today he is reborn in the Church. He brings to all the love of the Father in heaven. He is the Saviour of the world! Do not be afraid, open your hearts to him and receive him, so that his Kingdom of love and peace may become the common legacy of each man and woman. Happy Christmas!"
Pope Benedict XVI's 1st Catechesis on the Mystery of Christmas
Paul VI Hall, Wednesday 27 December 2006 - also in Croatian, French, German, Italian, Portuguese & Spanish
"Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today's meeting takes place in the Christmas atmosphere pervaded with an intimate joy for the birth of the Saviour. We have just celebrated, the day before yesterday, this mystery, whose echo expands in the liturgy of all these days. It is a mystery of light that men and women of every age can relive in faith. The words of John the Evangelist, whose feast we celebrate today, resound in our hearts: "Et Verbum caro factum est - the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (Jn 1: 14). At Christmas, therefore, God comes to dwell among us; he comes for us, to remain with us. A question passes through these 2,000 years of Christian history: "But why did he do it, why did God become man?"
The song that the angels intone over the grotto of Bethlehem helps us to respond to this question: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased" (Lk 2: 14). The canticle of Christmas night, found in the Gloria, is already part of the liturgy like the other three canticles of the New Testament which refer to the birth and the infancy of Jesus: the Benedictus, the Magnificat and the Nunc dimittis. While these latter are inserted respectively in the morning Lauds, in the evening prayer of Vespers and in the night prayer of Compline, the Gloria has found its own place in the Holy Mass. From the second century some acclamations were added to the angels words: "We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your immense glory"; and later, other invocations: "Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, who takes away the sin of the world...", to formulate an arioso hymn of praise that is sung for the first time in the Mass of Christmas and thereafter, on all feast days. Inserted at the beginning of the Eucharistic celebration, the Gloria emphasizes the continuity that exists between the birth and the death of Christ, between Christmas and Easter, inseparable aspects of the one and the same mystery of salvation.
The Gospel narrates that the angelic multitude sang: "Glory to God in the highest of heavens and peace on earth to those whom he loves". The angels announce to the shepherds that the birth of Jesus "is" glory for God in the highest of heavens; and "is" peace on earth to those whom he loves. It is thus opportune to place these angelic words over the grotto to explain the mystery of the birth that takes place in the crib. The term "glory" (doxa) indicates the splendour of God that sparks the thankful praise of creatures. St Paul will say: it is "the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (II Cor 4: 6). "Peace" (eirene) summarizes the fullness of the messianic gifts, the salvation that, as the Apostle notes, identifies with Christ himself: "For he is our peace" (Eph 2: 14). Lastly, there is the reference to men "of good will". "Good will" (eudokia), in common language, makes one think of the "good will" of men; but here, it means the "good will" of God toward men, which knows no limits. And here then is the Christmas message: with the birth of Jesus, God has manifested his good will toward all.
Let us return to the question: "Why did God make himself man?". St Irenaeus writes: "The Word made himself dispenser of the Father's glory for the benefit of men.... The glory of God is the living man - vivens homo - and the life of man consists in the vision of God" (Adv. Haer. 20: 5, 7). The glory of God is manifest, therefore, in the salvation of man, whom God so loved as "to give", as the Evangelist John affirms, "his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3: 16). Hence, love is the ultimate reason for the Incarnation of Christ. In this regard the reflection of the theologian H.U. von Balthasar is eloquent, in which he wrote: God "is not, in the first place, absolute power, but absolute love, whose sovereignty is not manifest in keeping for himself what belongs to him, but in his abandonment" (Mysterium Paschale I, 4). The God we contemplate in the crib is God-Love.
At this point the message of the angels resounds for us as an invitation: glory "be" to God in the highest of heavens, peace "be" on earth to those whom he loves. The only way to glorify God and to build peace in the world consists in the humble and trusting welcoming of the gift of Christmas: love. The song of the angles can then become a prayer to repeat often, not only in this Christmas season. It is a hymn of praise to God in the highest of heavens and a fervent invocation of peace on earth, which translates into a concrete commitment to build it with our life. This is the duty that Christmas entrusts to us.
Saluti:
"Je salue cordialement les pèlerins francophones présents ce matin. Puissiez-vous faire vôtre le chant des anges et accueillir humblement dans la confiance le don de Noël, glorifiant Dieu chaque jour de votre vie et vous engageant concrètement à être d’audacieux bâtisseurs de paix.
I offer a very cordial welcome to all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors, especially the groups from Ireland and the United States of America. May your visit to Rome in these holy days be a source of spiritual joy and deepened faith in the Word made flesh. Upon you and your families I invoke the grace and peace of the New-born Saviour. Happy Christmas!
Einen frohen weihnachtlichen Gruß richte ich an die Pilger aus den Ländern deutscher Sprache und aus Belgien. Wir alle sind eingeladen, mit unserem Lobpreis und mit unserem Leben in die Frohbotschaft der Engel von Bethlehem einzustimmen. Nehmen wir den Frieden Christi in uns auf, damit in uns und durch uns die Liebe Gottes sichtbar werde. Euch und euren Lieben wünsche ich eine segensreiche Weihnachtszeit!
Saludo cordialmente a los peregrinos de España y Latinoamérica, especialmente a los de la parroquia de Nuestra Señora la Antigua, de Monteagudo. Repitamos con frecuencia el canto de los ángeles: "Gloria a Dios en el cielo". Que esta oración se traduzca en hechos concretos para construir la paz con nuestra vida. Este es el compromiso que la Navidad nos confía.
Witam obecnych tu Polaków. W atmosferze świąt Bożego Narodzenia oddajemy chwałę Temu, który wyzbył się chwały nieba, stał się człowiekiem i przyszedł na świat w ubogiej stajence, aby nas zbawić. Niech Jego pokój stale wam towarzyszy. Niech wam Bóg błogosławi.
***
Rivolgo un cordiale augurio natalizio ai pellegrini di lingua italiana. In particolare, saluto la Comunità dei Legionari di Cristo, presenti numerosi all’Udienza, insieme con i rappresentanti dell’Associazione Regnum Christi, venuti a Roma per le festività natalizie e per l’ordinazione di un bel gruppo di nuovi sacerdoti. Il Signore vi benedica nel vostro ministero. Saluto inoltre i fedeli di Castel Guelfo e quelli di Arzano, come anche i giovani, i malati e gli sposi novelli, che partecipano all’Udienza.
La luce di Cristo, che nella Notte di Natale ha brillato sull’umanità, splenda su ciascuno di voi, cari amici, e vi accompagni nel quotidiano impegno di testimoniare coraggiosamente Cristo.
Ancora un augurio di buon Natale e di buone feste."
Pope Benedict XVI's 2nd Catechesis on the Mystery of Christmas
Paul VI Hall, Wednesday 3 January 2007 - also in Croatian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese & Spanish
"Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Thank you for your affection. I wish you all a happy New Year! This first General Audience of the new year still takes place in the atmosphere of Christmas, which invites us to rejoice in the Redeemer's birth. On coming into the world, Jesus lavished his gifts of goodness, mercy and love upon men and women. As if interpreting the sentiments of the people of every epoch, the Apostle John observes: "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God" (I Jn 3: 1). Anyone who stops to meditate before the Son of God lying helpless in the crib can only feel surprised at this humanly incredible event; one cannot but share the wonder and humble abandonment of the Virgin Mary, whom God chose to be Mother of the Redeemer precisely because of her humility. In the Child of Bethlehem, every person discovers he is freely loved by God; in the light of Christmas God's infinite goodness is revealed to each one of us. In Jesus, the Heavenly Father inaugurated a new relationship with us; he made us "sons in the Son himself". During these days, it is precisely on this reality that St John invites us to meditate with the richness and depth of his words, of which we have heard a passage.
The beloved Apostle of the Lord stresses that we are really sons: "and so we are" (I Jn 3: 1). We are not only creatures, but we are sons; in this way God is close to us; in this way he draws us to himself at the moment of his Incarnation, in his becoming one of us. Therefore, we truly belong to the family whose Father is God, because Jesus, the Only-Begotten Son, came to pitch his tent among us, the tent of his flesh, to gather all the nations together into a single family, the family of God, belonging to the divine Being united in one people, one family. He came to reveal to us the true Face of the Father and if we now use the word "God", it is no longer a reality known only from afar. We know the Face of God: it is that of the Son, who came to bring the heavenly realities closer to us and to the earth. St John notes: "In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us" (I Jn 4: 10). At Christmas, the simple and overwhelming announcement resounds throughout the world: "God loves us". "We love", St John says, "because he first loved us" (I Jn 4: 19). This mystery is henceforth entrusted to our hands so that through our experience of divine love we may live aspiring to the realities of Heaven. And this, let us say, is also our practice in these days: to live truly reaching for God, seeking first of all the Kingdom and its righteousness, certain that the rest, all the rest, will be given to us as well (cf. Mt 6: 33). The spiritual atmosphere of the Christmas Season helps us to grow in our knowledge of this.
The joy of Christmas, however, does not make us forget the mystery of evil (mysterium iniquitatis), the power of darkness that attempts to dim the splendour of the divine light. And unfortunately, we experience this power of darkness everyday. In the Prologue to his Gospel, proclaimed several times in the past few days, John the Evangelist writes: "The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not receive it" (cf. 1: 5). As in the past, the tragedy of the rejection of Christ unfortunately manifests and expresses itself also today in so many different ways. Perhaps even the most subtle and dangerous are the forms of the rejection of God in the contemporary era: from a clear refusal to indifference, from scientific atheism to the presentation of a so-called modernized or better, post-modernized Jesus. A man Jesus, reduced in a different way to a mere man of his time, deprived of his divinity; or a Jesus so highly idealized that he seems at times like the character of a fable.
Yet Jesus, the true Jesus of history, is true God and true man and never tires of proposing his Gospel to all, aware that he is a "sign of contradiction that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed", as the elderly Simeon would prophesy (cf. Lk 2: 32-35). Actually, it is only the Child lying in the manger who possesses the true secret of life. For this reason he asks us to welcome him, to make room for him within us, in our hearts, in our homes, in our cities and in our societies. The words of John's Prologue echo in our minds and hearts: "To all who received him... he gave power to become children of God" (1: 12). Let us endeavour to be among those who welcome him. Before him one cannot remain indifferent. We too, dear friends, must continuously take sides. What will our response be? With what attitude will we welcome him? The simplicity of the shepherds and the seeking of the Magi who scrutinized the signs of God by means of the star come to our help. The docility of Mary and the wise prudence of Joseph serve as an example to us. The more than 2,000 years of Christian history are filled with examples of men and women, youth and adults, children and elderly people who believed in the mystery of Christmas, who opened their arms to the Emmanuel and with their lives became beacons of light and hope. The love that Jesus, born in Bethlehem, brought into the world binds to himself in a lasting relationship of friendship and brotherhood all who welcome him. St John of the Cross says: "In giving us all, that is, his Son, in him God has now said all. Fix your eyes on him alone... and you will find in addition more than you ask and desire" (Ascent of Mount Carmel, Book I, Ep. 22, 4-5).
Dear brothers and sisters, at the beginning of this new year let us revive within us the commitment to open our minds and hearts to Christ, sincerely showing him our desire to live as his true friends. Thus, we will become collaborators of his plan of salvation and witnesses of that joy which he gives to us so that we may spread it around us in abundance. May Mary help us open our hearts to the Emmanuel who took on our poor, weak flesh in order to share with us the arduous journey of earthly life. In the company of Jesus, however, this tiring journey becomes a joyful journey. Let us proceed together with Jesus, let us walk with him and thus the new year will be a happy and good year.