His
Holiness Pope Francis, on Wednesday, December 21, 2016 at the General Audience,
urged the faithful to open their hearts to the Good News of the Saviour’s
birth.
Pope
Francis recalled the words of the prophet Isaiah, “the Lord himself will give
you a sign: the young woman, pregnant and about to bear a son, shall name him
Emmanuel” and also “a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his
roots a bud shall blossom.”
He said that the sense of Christmas transpires in both of these
verses: “God fulfills his promise by coming in the flesh, (…) and He gives his
people a new hope for humanity: eternal life”.
Christ, by coming in the flesh, has opened the way for us to ascend to the
Father.
“When we prepare the Christmas crib in our
homes and churches let us be attentive to the message of hope it
embodies”. With our gaze on the
nativity scene that takes us to the little town of Bethlehem, the Pope said we
can see revealed God’s love for each of us, however small or lowly:
We see it
in Mary, who trusted in God’s word: “She is the Mother of Hope”.
Next to
Mary is Joseph, the man of hope, who gave Jesus his name, which means “God
saves”.
In the
crib we see the joy of the shepherds who represent the humble and the poor who
were awaiting the Messiah. They were the
ones, he said, to receive with joy the peace proclaimed by the angels.
“Dear
brothers and sisters: every time we say ‘yes’ to Jesus a bud blossoms into
hope. May we trust in this bud of hope” and open our hearts to the Good
News of the birth of Jesus who came to save us”.
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