Pope of the Vatican: This Christmas, ask Jesus for the blessing of smallness

Bianca Fracalvieri – Vatican News

Asking Jesus’ Petty Grace: This was the invitation Pope Francis made to believers around the world when he presided over the traditional Mass of the Rooster in the Vatican Basilica.

In his homily, the pontiff highlighted the contradictions contained in the story of Christ’s birth: greatness and smallness, riches and poverty, nobility and exclusion are aspects found in Luke’s gospel.

Jesus was born to serve

The episode begins with Emperor Caesar Augustus in his prime, who orders the entire land to be census. From there, he takes us to Bethlehem, where nothing is of great size: just a poor boy wrapped in swaddling surrounded by shepherds. God is in small.

Let’s take a look at the center of the crib, the Pope called: Let us leave the lights and decorations behind and let us look at the baby to ask ourselves if we are able to welcome him.

“It’s the Christmas challenge: God reveals himself, but people don’t understand him. He makes himself small in the eyes of the world… and we continue to search for greatness according to the world, perhaps even in his name. God lowers himself… and we want to go up on a pedestal. The Most High Denotes Humility… We Are Determined To Excellence God Goes Looking For The Shepherds, For The Unseen… We Seek To See Jesus Was Born To Serve… We Spend Years Pursuing Success God Does Not Ask For Strength Or Strength He Asks For Kindness and inner small.

small blessing

This is what we should ask Jesus at Christmas, Francis continued: small blessing.

Smallness means belief that God wants to come For the little things in our lifeHe wants to live in everyday realities, in the simple gestures that we perform at home, in the family, at school, at work.

Smallness also means accepting our weaknesses and mistakes and surrendering to Him, in the certainty that God loves us as we are, in our weakness..

Welcoming smallness also means embracing Jesus in the little ones of the day. That is, to love him in the end and to serve him in the poor. They are most like Jesus. And he wants to be honored in the poor.

No more deaths at work!

Jesus was born poor surrounded by the poor, ie shepherds”Forgotten by the ocean“. They were there to work, because their lives did not have a schedule, and they depended on the herd.

In Jesus, everything is harmonious

But if there are shepherds in bed, there are also the Magi, “The educated and the rich.”

The Pope said that everything is in harmony when Jesus is at the center and invites us to return to Him Bethlehem To rediscover the essence of faith.

Let us begin on the way and let us return to Bethlehem, for life is a pilgrimage, concluded Francisco. That night, a faint light appeared, reminding us of our smallness. It is the light of Jesus that no one will ever extinguish.