Smallness was the word that Pope Francis chose to mark Christmas 2021. As we go after strength, success, visibility and power, Jesus comes to point the opposite path in the world, one made up of humility, tenderness, and service. In his discourse, the Pope also made a strong appeal to the workers.
Bianca Fraccalvieri – Vatican News
Presiding over the Traditional Mass of the Rooster at the Vatican Basilica, Pope Francis addressed believers around the world asking Jesus for the grace of smallness.
In his discourse, the pontiff highlights the contradictions inherent in the account of Christ’s birth: greatness and smallness, wealth and poverty, nobility and excommunication are aspects present in the Gospel of Luke.
Jesus was born to serve
The episode begins with Emperor Caesar Augustus in his greatness ordering a census of the entire country. From there, he takes us to Bethlehem, where, to a great extent, there is nothing: only a poor boy, surrounded by shepherds, clad in cloth. I am God smallness,
Let us take a look at the center of the crib, the Pope invites: Let’s leave the lights and decorations behind and look at the baby to ask ourselves if we are able to welcome him.
“This is the challenge of Christmas: God reveals Himself, but men do not understand Him. Minimize ourselves in the eyes of the world… and we go on seeking greatness in the world, perhaps by His name.” than also. God lowers Himself… and we want to climb the seat. The Most High shows humility… and we intend to look different. God goes in search of shepherds, for the invisible.. . We seek visibility. Jesus is born to serve… and we spend years chasing success. God does not seek strength or power; it demands tenderness and inner smallness “
small grace
Here’s what we should ask Jesus at Christmas, Francis continued: small grace,
Smallness means believing that God wants to come for the little things in our lives, wants to live in everyday realities, the simple gestures we perform at home, at family, at school, at work.
Smallness also means accepting and surrendering to our weaknesses and faults, in the certainty that God loves us as we are, in our weaknesses.,
Welcoming smallness also means embracing Jesus in today’s little ones. That is, to love him in the end and to serve him among the poor. They are most similar to Jesus. And it is in the poor that he wants to be honored.
No more deaths at work!
Jesus was born poor surrounded by the poor, ie shepherds,”forgot about the perimeter,, They were there to work, as their life had no schedule, it depended on the herd.
In Jesus, everything is consistent
But if there are shepherds in the cradle, so are magicians,learned and rich”.
Everything is consistent when, at the center, is Jesus, the Pope said, inviting us to return Bethlehem To rediscover the inevitability of faith.
Let’s get on the way and go back to Bethlehem, because life is a pilgrimage, concluded Francisco. A soft light came that night, reminding us of our smallness. It is the light of Jesus that no one will ever extinguish.
