25.12.2007 - Christmas Day
Midnight Mass Isaiah 9,1-3,5-6 Psalm 96/97 Titus 2,11-14 Luke 2,1-14
Dawn Mass Isaiah 62,11-12 Psalm 97/98 Titus 3,4-7 Luke 2,15-20
Morning Mass Isaiah 52,7-10 Psalm 98/99 Hebrews 1,1-6 John 1,1-18
Christmas day is full of light, but I don't know why, I feel embarrassed at
talking on this day. There are many meditations, the bible readings are beautiful
and the general atmosphere is kind and gentle because of the presence of the
Child Jesus. What should I say? Does anyone wish to listen or does everyone
wish to await in silence?
Today God's word becomes concrete, visible, palpable. It is not sufficient to
hear, to touch or to see, or to feel with our hearts. To receive this Word and,
therefore, to listen to God, all this is necessary, all our being and yet it
is not enough. My words could disturb or take away room from the Word! If you
have already begun your wait in silence, ignore these lines and continue in
your listening and contemplation!
The Word became flesh and set up its tent among us: if I am looking for the Word of God, I do not have to look far, it is here, in the midst of us! It is here on earth that God manifests his wishes and communicates his consolation. I look around and I see the faces of men and women. What does God say to me? He tells me; I am here with them and for them, to love them. I do not see only people who need love or who need a home and bread or clothing. I see many who have no-one in their hearts: you can see that from their empty, cold looks, their need for noise or empty words, from their hands searching for a cigarette or a cup of coffee, from their need for constant moving and change. How much thirst and hunger! They hunger and thirst for Jesus, but they don't know it and they use the word Christmas to create more illusions. It is important that he becomes alive on your lips and in your looks so that others who meet you today can find reference to him!
Take the Child from the arms of the Mother: she will be happy to give him to
you. We know that we are not worthy to hold him, but the Mother will give him
to us all the same. Look at that Child who does not frighten you, who appreciates
you despite your condition of being a sinner; look at him, he asks nothing of
you. It is easy to love him because he asks nothing of you. If you give him
something, give a little attention, a little silence, for there is goodness
in you, God's gift from the beginning. Love him, grow fond of him, make a little
effort for him now while he is a child. It will be easier to listen to him when
he begins to speak, when he says things your ears are not used to hearing. Love
him now, so that when he says "blessed are the poor in spirit" you
will remember the manger, the poverty of his mother and the serenity of his
father, who had only poverty to give him, poverty as food and poverty as a plaything
and poverty as clothing. He was not ashamed of that poverty in which he was
received because in that poverty he would receive and would learn to love. Love
him now, while he is a child, grow fond of him, so that you will listen when
he says, "turn the other cheek", and these words will not be foreign
to you; you will listen to him when he says: "pray without ceasing"
when he amazes everyone by saying "invite the poor and the blind, the crippled
and the lame, who have nothing to repay you with. Take him in your arms now,
so that you will not flee from him when you see him crowned with thorns and
spat upon and carrying the cross.
Look at his Mother with love: her young face is lit up by the light which comes
from him, a light which will shine from your eyes too, to give hope to the world.
Let your shadows be dispelled: overcome your shyness and your fear and say his
name. It is the name of that Child that overcomes the death that leads your
fears to close your hearts for they will lose strength and die! Say his name
with me: Jesus! Welcome, Jesus! Jesus, I am here!