We Catholics must constantly look to Rome, and pay attention to
the voice of the Pope, he is the one who represents Christ on earth. The things
he says are interesting and are for our benefit. Sometimes there is little
interest or little attention to what the Pope says. Today I want to share with
you a few ideas of the homily Benedict XVI last night in Rome.
«So Christ is our peace, and he proclaimed peace to those
far away and to those near at hand (cf. Eph 2:14, 17). How could we now do
other than pray to him: Yes, Lord, proclaim peace today to us too, whether we
are far away or near at hand. Grant also to us today that swords may be turned
into ploughshares (Is 2:4), that instead of weapons for warfare, practical aid
may be given to the suffering. Enlighten those who think they have to practice
violence in your name, so that they may see the senselessness of violence and
learn to recognize your true face. Help us to become people “with whom you are
pleased” – people according to your image and thus people of peace.
Once the angels departed, the shepherds said to one another:
Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened for us (cf. Lk
2:15). The shepherds went with haste to Bethlehem, the Evangelist tells us (cf.
2:16). A holy curiosity impelled them to see this child in a manger, who the
angel had said was the Saviour, Christ the Lord. The great joy of which the
angel spoke had touched their hearts and given them wings.
Let us go over to Bethlehem, says the Church’s liturgy to us
today. (…) Let us take a step outside our habits of thought and habits of life,
across the purely material world into the real one, across to the God who in
his turn has come across to us. Let us ask the Lord to grant that we may
overcome our limits, our world, to help us to encounter him, especially at the
moment when he places himself into our hands and into our heart in the Holy
Eucharist (…)
The shepherds made haste. Holy curiosity and holy joy
impelled them. In our case, it is probably not very often that we make haste
for the things of God. God does not feature among the things that require
haste. The things of God can wait, we think and we say. And yet he is the most
important thing, ultimately the one truly important thing. Why should we not
also be moved by curiosity to see more closely and to know what God has said to
us? At this hour, let us ask him to touch our hearts with the holy curiosity
and the holy joy of the shepherds, and thus let us go over joyfully to
Bethlehem, to the Lord who today once more comes to meet us. Amen» ■
