|
Pope Benedict XVI- General Audiences |
General
Audience
On the Meaning and Value of Our Lives
Christ "Appeals … to Our Free Decision to Accept His Love"
H.H. Benedict XVI
December 17, 2008
www.zenit.org
Dear brothers and sisters:
Precisely today, we begin the days of Advent that immediately prepare us
for the nativity of the Lord: We are in the Christmas novena, which in
many Christian communities is celebrated with liturgies rich in biblical
texts, all oriented toward nourishing hope for the birth of the Savior.
The entire Church, in effect, turns its gaze of faith toward this
approaching feast, readying itself, like each year, to unite to the
joyful song of the angels, who in the heart of the night will announce
to the shepherds the extraordinary event of the birth of the Redeemer,
inviting them to draw close to the cave of Bethlehem. There lies
Emanuel, the Creator made creature, wrapped in swaddling clothes and
lying in a poor manger (cf. Luke 2:13-14).
Because of the environment that characterizes it, Christmas is a
universal feast. Even those who do not profess to be believers, in fact,
can perceive in this annual Christian celebration something
extraordinary and transcendent, something intimate that speaks to the
heart. It is the feast that sings of the gift of life. The birth of a
child moves us and causes tenderness. Christmas is the encounter with a
newborn who cries in a miserable cave. Contemplating him in the manger,
how can we not think of so many children who even today see the light
from within a great poverty in many regions of the world? How can we not
think of the newborns who are not welcomed and are rejected, of those
who do not survive because of a lack of care and attention? How can we
not think, too, of the families who desire the joy of a child and do not
see this hope fulfilled?
Under the influence of a hedonistic consumerism, unfortunately,
Christmas runs the risk of losing its spiritual significance to be
reduced to a mere commercial occasion to buy and exchange gifts. In
truth, nevertheless, the difficulties and the uncertainties and the very
economic crisis that in these months so many families are living, and
which affects all of humanity, can be a stimulus to discover the warmth
of simplicity, friendship and solidarity -- characteristic values of
Christmas. Stripped of consumerist and materialist incrustations,
Christmas can thus become an occasion to welcome, as a personal gift,
the message of hope that emanates from the mystery of the birth of
Christ.
All of this, nevertheless, is not enough to assimilate fully the value
of the feast for which we are preparing. We know that it celebrates the
central event of history: the incarnation of the divine Word for the
redemption of humanity. St. Leo the Great, in one of his numerous
Christmas homilies, thus exclaimed: "Let us exult in the Lord, my dear
ones, and open our hearts to the most pure joy. Because the day has
dawned that for us means the new redemption, the ancient preparation,
eternal bliss. Thus in the yearly cycle, the elevated mystery of our
salvation is renewed for us, which, promised at the beginning and
fulfilled at the end of times, is destined to endure without end (Homily
XXII).
St. Paul returns to this fundamental truth many times in his letters. To
the Galatians, for example, he writes: "But when the fullness of time
had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law … so
that we might receive adoption" (4:4). In the Letter to the Romans he
sets forth the logic and consequent demands of this saving event: "And
if [we are] children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with
Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with
him" (8:17).
But it is above all St. John, in the prologue to the fourth Gospel, who
meditates profoundly on the mystery of the Incarnation. And it is
because of this that the prologue has been part of the Christmas liturgy
since ancient times: There is found, in fact, the most authentic
expression and the deepest synthesis of this feast, and of the base of
his joy. St. John writes: "Et Verbum caro factum est et habitavit in
nobis" -- And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).
At Christmas, then, we are not limited to commemorating the birth of a
great personality; we do not celebrate simply and in the abstract the
mystery of the birth of man or in general, the birth of life; neither do
we celebrate only the beginning of a great season. At Christmas, we
remember something very concrete and important for man, something
essential for Christian faith, a truth that St. John summarized in these
few words: "The Word was made flesh."
It is a historical event that the Evangelist Luke concerns himself with
situating in a very determined context: in the days in which the decree
of the first census of Caesar Augustus was issued, when Quirinius was
already governor of Syria (cf. Luke 2:1-7). It is therefore a night
dated historically, in which was verified the salvation event that
Israel had been awaiting for centuries. In the darkness of the night of
Bethlehem, a great light was truly lit: The Creator of the universe
incarnated himself, uniting himself indissolubly with human nature, to
the point of really being "God from God, light from light" and at the
same time, man, true man.
That which John calls in Greek "ho logos," translated in Latin "Verbum"
and in Italian, "il Verbo" (the Word), also means "the Meaning."
Therefore, we can understand John's expression in this way: the "eternal
Meaning" of the world has made himself tangible to our senses and our
intelligence. Now we can touch him and contemplate him (cf. 1 John 1:1).
The "Meaning" that has become flesh is not simply a general idea
inscribed in the world; it is a "word" directed to us. The Logos knows
us, calls us, guides us. It is not a universal law, in which we fulfill
some role, but rather it is a Person who is interested in each
individual person: It is the living Son of God, who has become man in
Bethlehem.
To many people, and in some way to all of us, this seems too beautiful
to be true. In effect, here it is reaffirmed for us: Yes, there is
meaning, and this meaning is not an impotent protest against the absurd.
The Meaning is powerful: It is God. A good God, who is not to be
confused with some lofty and distant power, to which it is impossible to
ever arrive, but rather a God who has made himself close to us and to
our neighbor, who has time for each one of us and who has come to stay
with us.
Thus the question spontaneously arises: How is such a thing possible? Is
it worthy of God to become a child? To try to open one's heart to this
truth that enlightens all of human existence, it is necessary to yield
the mind and recognize the limits of our intelligence. In the cave at
Bethlehem, God shows himself to us as a humble "infant" to overcome our
pride. Perhaps we would have submitted more easily before power, before
pride; but he does not want our submission. He appeals, rather, to our
heart and to our free decision to accept his love. He has made himself
little to free us from this human pretension of greatness that arises
from pride; he has incarnated himself freely to make us truly free, free
to love him.
Dear brothers and sisters, Christmas is a privileged opportunity to
meditate on the meaning and value of our existence. Approaching this
solemnity helps us to reflect, on one hand, about the drama of history
in which men, wounded by sin, are permanently seeking happiness and a
satisfactory meaning to life and death; on the other hand, it exhorts us
to meditate on the merciful goodness of God, who has gone out to meet
man to communicate to him directly the Truth that saves, and make him
participate in his friendship and his life.
Let us prepare for Christmas, therefore, with humility and simplicity,
readying ourselves to receive the gift of light, joy and peace that
irradiates from this mystery. Let us welcome the nativity of Christ as
an event capable of today renewing our existence. May the encounter with
the Child Jesus make us people who do not think only of ourselves, but
rather open to the expectations and necessities of our brothers. In this
way we too become testimonies of the light that Christmas radiates over
the humanity of the third millennium. Let us ask most holy Mary, the
tabernacle of the incarnate Word, and St. Joseph, silent witness of the
events of salvation, to communicate to us the sentiments they had while
they awaited the birth of Jesus, so that we can prepare ourselves to
celebrate in a holy way the coming Christmas, in the joy of faith and
enlivened by the determination of a sincere conversion.
Merry Christmas!
[Translation by ZENIT]
[The Holy Father then greeted the people in several languages. In
English, he said:]
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today we commence the Christmas Novena of Advent by contemplating the
fulfilment of the ancient prophecies in the coming of the Son of God,
born of the Virgin Mary in the stable of Bethlehem. Christmas speaks to
everyone; it celebrates the gift of life – often fragile or endangered –
and the fulfilment of our deepest hopes for a world renewed. The present
economic crisis, causing so much suffering, can however help us to focus
on the spiritual meaning of Christmas, and to welcome into our hearts
the hope brought by God’s coming among us as man. The Word became flesh
to offer humanity the salvation which can only be received as a gracious
gift from God. The same Word by whom the universe was made, the Word
which gives all creation its ultimate meaning, has come to dwell among
us: he now speaks to us, he reveals the deepest meaning of our life on
earth, and he guides us to the Love which is our fulfilment. In the
Christ Child, God humbly knocks on the doors of our hearts and asks us
freely to accept his love, his truth, his life. As Christmas approaches,
let us rekindle our hope in God’s promises and, in humility and
simplicity, welcome the light, joy and peace which the Saviour brings to
us and to our world.
I am pleased to greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors
present at today’s Audience, including the various student groups and
those coming from Ireland and the United States of America. To you and
your families, especially those who may be in difficulty or suffering, I
extend my best wishes for a happy and blessed Christmas!
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Look
at the One they Pierced!
This page is the work of
the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and Mary
