Card. Cantalamesa, the catechist of the Papal Palace, led the second meditation in the Paul VI Hall, with the theme “Blessed are those who believe.” The cardinal spoke of the tendency in Western countries to create mythical stories and characters that replace the content of the Gospel.
(Vatican News Network) Over time, the arrangement of the manger of the Baby Jesus “no longer has the connotation expressed by St. Francis” and often becomes “a form of art or performance that allows people to appreciate the external scene without the mystery.” meaning”. Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, the catechist of the Papal Office, spoke of the above phenomenon during the second meditation of Advent on December 22. Pope Francis and members of the Holy See listened to the cardinal’s homily in the Paul VI Hall that morning.
The theme of this meditation is “Blessed are those who believe” (cf. Luke 1:45). Cardinal Cantalamesa said that when the Second Vatican Council spoke of the Blessed Virgin Mary, it was stated that the Mother of God “goes forward on the journey of faith” (Ecclesiastical Constitution, No. 58). Indeed, Mary “did not believe once and for all, but walked in faith and progressed in faith.” Despite the “seemingly contradictory things that happened in her life and which she did not understand”, she believed “with hope in the midst of despair” and thus became “the mother of all peoples”.
The cardinal spoke of the Christmas season at this time, saying that in Western countries “many characters and activities have been invented to remove all the evangelical and pious “content” from the solemn celebration of Christmas and to simplify it. For a purely personal and family holiday, the real person of Jesus’ Christmas has been replaced with many myths and made-up characters.” Some people “even want to change the name of this holiday.” One excuse for these initiatives is that they “contribute to harmonious coexistence with followers of other religions, and indeed with Islam.”
In fact, the cardinal pointed out, this is “an excuse for secularism and a reluctance to have these symbols, and not for Muslims.” The cardinal quoted from the Quran about the birth of Jesus, which describes the angel’s announcement to Mary. The cardinal emphasized that respect for Jesus and the Virgin Mary led the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi to decide a few years ago to rename the mosque previously named after Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed to “Mary”. , Mother of Jesus” Mosque.
Therefore, laying out a manger is “a useful and beautiful tradition”, but “we cannot be satisfied with a manger that only focuses on external traditions.” We must “prepare a different manger for Jesus, an inner manger.” Mary and Joseph kept “knocking mysteriously at the door, like that night in Bethlehem.” In the Book of Revelation, the resurrected Jesus himself said: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” (Revelation 3:20) The cardinal invites everyone to open their hearts to Jesus and “let our hearts be like the Child Jesus.” cradle. Let Him feel our love and our overwhelming gratitude for salvation in this cold world!”
Cardinal Cantalamesa pointed out that this is not “a fictitious poetic beauty in the mind, but the most difficult undertaking in life”. “There are actually many places to receive guests, but only one host” within us. To welcome the birth of Jesus means “to die to the little ‘I’ or at least to make a new decision to live no longer for ourselves but for the One who was born, died and rose again for our sakes.”
There is a saying in atheistic existentialism: “Where God is born, there man dies.” This is true, the cardinal said, but what dies is “old, decayed and mortal man”, while what is born is “people born in The new man of righteousness and true holiness” will ultimately receive eternal life. Cardinal Cantalamesa concluded by saying, “This project does not end after Christmas, but can begin with Christmas.”
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2023-12-23 12:16:59
