Leo XIV's Christmas: Let the world change, starting with ourselves
“Jesus Christ is our peace,” said the pope in his Urbi et Orbi message, with him hatred and violence are rejected. Looking to the world, the pontiff appealed for "a future of reconciliation" in Myanmar and urged Cambodia and Thailand to rediscover their "ancient friendship." He also cited Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai who called on God to let peace “come like wildflowers, suddenly, because the field must have it”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Leo XIV grounded his first Christmas message to the city and the world as the successor of Peter in the mystery of the God who becomes flesh to save us.
“If all of us, at every level,” he said, “would stop accusing others and instead acknowledge our own faults, asking God for forgiveness, and if we would truly enter into the suffering of others and stand in solidarity with the weak and the oppressed, then the world would change.”
This also requires awareness that, as Saint Augustine put it, “God, who created us without us, will not save us without us, that is, without our free will to love.”
At noon today, Leo returned to the Vatican Basilica's Loggia of Blessings, where he presented himself to the world on 8 May, immediately after his election.
Resuming a tradition interrupted by Pope Francis, he addressed the peoples of the world directly, extending his Christmas greetings in ten different languages, including Arabic and Chinese, before the blessing.
Above all, the message he wanted to convey to everyone is the heart of the mystery celebrated by the Church on this day.
“Jesus Christ is our peace first of all because he frees us from sin, and also because he shows us the way to overcome conflicts – all conflicts, whether interpersonal or international. Without a heart freed from sin, a heart that has been forgiven, we cannot be men and women of peace or builders of peace. This is why Jesus was born in Bethlehem and died on the cross: to free us from sin. He is the Savior. With his grace, we can and must each do our part to reject hatred, violence and opposition, and to practice dialogue, peace and reconciliation.”
Starting from this idea, Pope Leo – like all his predecessors, in the Christmas message – turned his attention to different parts of the world, with particular attention to those where suffering is greatest.
He first addressed his greeting to the Christians of the Middle East, whom he met a few weeks ago on his first apostolic journey.
“I listened to them as they expressed their fears and know well their sense of powerlessness before the power dynamics that overwhelm them,” he said.
Yet, he added, “the child born today in Bethlehem is the same Jesus who says: ‘In me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ (Jn 16:33). [. . .] From God let us ask for justice, peace and stability for Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Syria”.
The pope also entrusted Europe to the Prince of Peace, asking him to “continue to inspire a spirit of community and cooperation, in fidelity to its Christian roots and history, and in solidarity with – and acceptance of – those in need.”
He prayed especially for the martyred people of Ukraine: “may the clamor of weapons cease, and may the parties involved, with the support and commitment of the international community, find the courage to engage in sincere, direct and respectful dialogue.
But Leo XIV is also well aware of the forgotten wars, those no one talks about, like those in Africa, “our brothers and sisters in Sudan, South Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo.”
He entrusted in God made man “the beloved people of Haiti, that all forms of violence in the country will cease and that progress will be made on the path of peace and reconciliation.”
The pontiff also did not leave out conflicts in Asia.
“Let us ask the Prince of Peace to illuminate Myanmar with the light of a future of reconciliation, restoring hope to the younger generations, guiding its entire people along paths of peace, and accompanying those who live without shelter, security or confidence in tomorrow.”
For several weeks now, war has flared up again on the border between Thailand and Cambodia, with scores of deaths and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Leo hopes to see these two countries restore their “ancient friendship [. . .], and that the parties involved will continue to work towards reconciliation and peace.”
He also mentioned the peoples of South Asia and Oceania, who from Sri Lanka to Indonesia were hit hard last month by devastating natural disasters.
“In the face of such trials, I invite everyone to renew, with heartfelt conviction, our shared commitment to assisting those who suffer.”
Indifference itself is the great enemy we must defeat, because Christmas itself shows us that “God is not indifferent to our distress,” for in becoming man, Jesus identifies with each of us.
Indeed, he identifies “with those who have nothing left and have lost everything, like the inhabitants of Gaza; with those who are prey to hunger and poverty, like the Yemeni people; with those who are fleeing their homeland to seek a future elsewhere, like the many refugees and migrants who cross the Mediterranean or traverse the American continent; with those who have lost their jobs and those who are looking for work, like so many young people who struggle to find employment; with those who are exploited, like many underpaid workers; with those in prison, who often live in inhumane conditions.”
To describe the peace that every corner of the earth today is asking from God, Leo chose the words of Yehuda Amichai (1924-2000), one of Israel’s foremost poets, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family. After fleeing Hitler's Germany, he went through the experience of the 1948 war in Jerusalem.
For him, we should invoke “Not the peace of a cease-fire, not even the vision of the wolf and the lamb, but rather as in the heart when the excitement is over and you can talk only about a great weariness… Let it come like wildflowers, suddenly, because the field must have it: wild peace.”
For the pontiff, if we open our hearts to our brothers and sisters who are in need and in pain, “we open our hearts to the Child Jesus, who welcomes us with open arms and reveals his divinity to us”.
This is also the meaning of the Jubilee Year that is coming to an end.
“The Holy Doors will close,” Leo said, “but Christ our hope remains with us always! He is [. . .] the joyful proclamation of this day: the Child who was born is God made man; he comes not to condemn but to save; his is not a fleeting appearance, for he comes to stay and to give himself. In him, every wound is healed and every heart finds rest and peace.”
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25/12/2023 16:05
