Pope Benedict XVI reminds us that preparing for Christmas is not about the gifts we will give or receive, or what we will eat or drink, but about “our hearts”. ZENIT.ORG reports
POPE Benedict XVI visited one of the parishes of Rome recently, encouraging the parishioners to prepare for Christmas, “not just with gifts but with our hearts”.
The Pope visited “Santa Maria delle Grazie” at Casal Boccone, in the northern sector of Rome diocese, telling the people that “we must not lose contact with God in our hearts”.
“If such contact exists then we have a reason to be joyful,” he said.
“To all of you I wish the joy of Christmas, the presence of the Baby Jesus Who is the God of our hearts.”
The Holy Father celebrated Mass and noted in his homily the celebration of “Gaudete” Sunday, “the Sunday of joy”.
“It tells us that, even amidst our doubts and difficulties, joy exists because God exists and he is with us,” the Pontiff said.
“May the Mass be the focus of your Sunday, which must be rediscovered and lived as the day of the Lord and of the community, a day on which to praise and celebrate the One Who was born for us, Who died and rose again for our salvation, and Who asks us to live together joyfully, to be a community open and ready to welcome anyone who is alone and in difficulty.
“Do not lose your understanding of the significance of Sundays, and remain faithful to your appointment with the Eucharist. Early Christians were ready to give their lives for this.”
After Mass, the Pope spoke with the people about preparations for Christmas.
“I know that people have many commitments, but getting ready for Christmas does not only mean shopping and making preparations, it means being in contact with the Lord, going out to meet him,” he said.
“I feel it is important not to forget this dimension. … This is not an additional burden, but the power that enables us to do all we need to do.
“I hope you maintain permanent contact with Jesus, that his joy and strength might help you to live in this world.”
Upon his return to the Vatican, the Holy Father kept with a Roman tradition for the third Sunday of Advent, blessing statuettes of the Baby Jesus brought to the square by children from local oratories.
The images will be placed in nativity scenes in homes, schools and parishes.
“Dear children,” the Pope told them, “when you pray before your crèche, remember me too as I will remember you. Thank you and Merry Christmas.”
Meanwhile, before using a tablet computer to light the electronic tree sprawled across the slopes at Gubbio, Italy, Pope Benedict XVI on December 7 took a moment to reveal what he wants for Christmas.
“Before lighting the tree,” he said, “I would like to express three wishes. This Christmas tree is formed on the slopes of Mt Ingino at whose summit is found the basilica of Gubbio’s patron saint, St Ubaldo.
“When we look at it our eyes are lifted up, raised toward the sky, toward the world of God.
“My first wish, therefore, is that our gaze, that of our minds and our hearts, not rest only on the horizon of this world, on its material things, but that in some way, like this tree that tends upward, it be directed toward God.
“God never forgets us but He also asks that we don’t forget Him.”
The Holy Father’s second and third wish related to light.
“The Gospel,” he said, “recounts that, on the holy night of Christ’s birth, a light enveloped the shepherds, announcing a great joy to them: the birth of Jesus, the one who brings us light, or better, the One who is the true light that illuminates all.
“The great tree that I will light up shortly overlooks the city of Gubbio and will illuminate the darkness of the night with its light.
“My second wish is that we recall that we also need a light to illumine the path of our lives and to give us hope, especially in this time in which we feel so greatly the weight of difficulties, of problems, of suffering, and it seems that we are enshrouded in a veil of darkness.
“But what light can truly illuminate our hearts and give us a firm and sure hope?
“It is the Child whom we contemplate on Christmas, in a poor and humble manger, because He is the Lord who draws near to each of us and asks that we receive Him anew in our lives, asks us to want Him, to trust in Him, to feel His presence, that He is accompanying us, sustaining us, and helping us.”
The Pontiff presented his third wish with this reflection: “This great tree is formed of many lights. My final wish is that each of us contribute something of that light to the spheres in which we live: our families, our jobs, our neighbourhoods, towns, and cities.”
The “tree” is made up of an arrangement of coloured lights on the side of Mount Ingino. It is a tradition at the site since 1981.
The base of the image is about 450m wide and it extends for 750m up the hillside from the city’s mediaeval walls to the basilica of St Ubaldo. The outline of the tree is traced with 300 green lights, and 400 multi-coloured lights fill it in.
“That each of us be a light for those who are at our sides; that we leave aside the selfishness that, so often, closes our hearts and leads us to think only of ourselves; that we may pay greater attention to others, that we may love them more,” the Pope wished.
“Any small gesture of goodness is like one of the lights of this great tree: together with other lights it illuminates the darkness of the night, even of the darkest night.”
