A Reflection from Pope Francis
April 2025
The following is an except from Pope Francis’ homily on the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, Sunday, December 24th, 2023, which really struck me.
We might ask ourselves: Which God do we believe in? In the God of incarnation or the god of achievement? Because there is always a risk that we can celebrate Christmas while thinking of God in pagan terms, as a powerful potentate in the sky; a god linked to power, worldly success and the idolatry of consumerism. With the false image of a distant and petulant deity who treats the good well and the bad poorly; a deity made in our own image and likeness, handy for resolving our problems and removing our ills. God, on the other hand, waves no magic wand; He is no god of commerce who promises “everything all at once”. He does not save us by pushing a button, but draws near to us, in order to change our world from within. Yet how deeply ingrained is the worldly notion of a distant, domineering, unbending and powerful deity who helps his own to prevail against others! This image is so frequently ingrained in us. But that is not the case: our God was born for all, during a census of the whole earth.
Let us look, then, to the “living and true God” (1 Thess 1:9). The God Who is beyond all human reckoning. The God Who so respects us as to allow us to reject Him; Who takes away sin by taking it upon Himself; Who does not eliminate pain but transforms it; Who does not remove problems from our lives but grants us a hope that is greater than all our problems. God so greatly desires to embrace our lives that, infinite though He is, He becomes finite for our sake. In His greatness, He chooses to become small; in His righteousness, He submits to our injustice. This is the wonder of Christmas: not a mixture of sappy emotions and worldly contentment, but the unprecedented tenderness of a God Who saves the world by becoming incarnate. Let us contemplate the Child, let us contemplate the manger, His crib. For it truly is the sign that reveals God’s face, a face of compassion and mercy. Whose might is shown always and only in love.
So why remain caught up in your troubles? Like the shepherds, who left their flocks, leave behind the prison of your sorrows and embrace the tender love of the God Who became a child. Put aside your masks and your armour; cast your cares on Him and He will care for you (cf. Ps 55:22). He became flesh; He is looking not for your achievements but for your open and trusting heart. In Him, you will rediscover who you truly are: a beloved son or daughter of God. Now you can believe it, for tonight the Lord was born to light up your life; his eyes are alight with love for you. We have difficulty believing this, that God’s eyes are alight with love for us.
Worship is the way to embrace the Incarnation. For it is in silence that Jesus, the Word of the Father, becomes flesh in our lives. Let us do as they did, in Bethlehem, a town whose name means “House of Bread”. Let us stand before Him Who is the Bread of Life. Let us rediscover worship, for to worship is not to waste time, but to make our time a dwelling-place for God. It is to let the seed of the Incarnation bloom within us; it is to cooperate in the work of the Lord, Who, like leaven, changes the world. To worship is to intercede, to make reparation, to allow God to realign history. As a great teller of epic tales once wrote to his son, “I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament… There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth” (J.R.R. TOLKIEN, Letter 43, March 1941).