In a history dictated by people, the world seeks power and glory, measures everything by success and results, lives in an obsession with achievement.
Because of the noise of the guns, there is no place for the child Jesus who preached peace in Bethlehem today - Pope Francis said at the Mass presented in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday evening.
In his speech, Pope Francis recalled that a census was held at the time of Jesus' birth.
He noted that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem they were busy with the numbers of the referendum, people came and went, talked about this and that, they did not give Jesus a place to stay, with only Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the three kings. Let us learn from them, said the Pope.
“While the emperor was numbering the inhabitants of the world, God entered the world almost hidden; while the ruler tried to rise among the greats of history, the King of history chose the path of smallness. "No one among the powerful noticed him, only a few shepherds who lived on the fringes of society," said Pope Francis.
On Christmas Eve, our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the prince of peace, Jesus, is rejected by the "loser logic of war, with the roar of weapons, which even today prevent him from finding a place to stay in the world", the head of the church quoted the part of Luke's Gospel about the birth of Jesus.
The Pope believed that in history dictated by people, the world is looking for power and glory, everything is measured by success and results, with numbers, exactly like during a census. We live in an obsession with performance, he added.
God does not perform, not with force from above, but from below, with love, he added.
The Pope believed that people often worship a pagan god: they imagine him as a powerful lord who supports worldly success and the idolization of consumption. He helps a god who is distant and abusive, who he thinks behaves well and gets angry with the bad. He fashioned a god into a man who is only useful to solve our problems, get us out of trouble, and help his own over others.
On the other hand, the real God "does not use a magic wand, is not the god of everything and immediately commercial passwords, does not save us at the push of a button, but is close to us so that we can change reality from within," explained Pope Francis.
He emphasized that Christmas is not a celebration of the mixture of honey-glazed emotions and worldly comforts, the manger covers the face of God, which is nothing but mercy, compassion, and love.
Pope Francis stated that while we feel that our performance is not up to par in a judgmental and unforgiving world, in which we seem inadequate due to our weaknesses, failures, and problems, for Jesus everyone is valuable: "no person is a mere number, everyone has a face", he emphasized the pope.
St. Peter's Basilica, bathed in light, was completely filled with parishioners and believers. According to Vatican data, 6,500 people took part in the ceremony. Those who could not fit into the basilica followed the mass on projectors in the square.
At the beginning of the mass, the cloth was removed from the manger placed at the altar, and at the statue of the child Jesus, children dressed in traditional costumes placed flowers representing the continents, this year from Italy, Mexico, the Ivory Coast, India and Korea.
The 87-year-old head of the church followed the ceremony sitting.
At the mass, they pray in Chinese for the Pope and priests, in French for governors and migrants seeking acceptance, in Arabic for peace and the silencing of the noise of weapons, in Portuguese for children and fragile people, and finally in Vietnamese for those who do not believe in God or have lost their faith.
Security was on high alert: armored vehicles of the Italian gendarmerie and police lined up around Szent Péter Square due to the threat of terrorism reported from European capitals.
MTI
Cover image: Pope Francis at the Mass presented in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday evening
Source: Facebook/Vatican News
