"We too, in this blessed night, have come to the house of God. We have passed   
   through the darkness which envelops the earth, guided by the flame of faith   
   which illuminates our steps, and enlivened by the hope of finding the 'great   
   light'. By opening our hearts, we also can contemplate the miracle of that   
   child-sun who, arising from on high, illuminates the horizon.   
    "The origin of the darkness which envelops the world is lost in the night of   
   the ages. Let us think back to that dark moment when the first crime of   
   humanity was committed, when the hand of Cain, blinded by envy, killed his   
   brother Abel. As a result, the unfolding of the centuries has been marked by   
   violence, wars, hatred and oppression. But God, who placed a sense of   
   expectation within man made in his image and likeness, was waiting. God was   
   waiting. He waited for so long that perhaps at a certain point it seemed he   
   should have given up. But he could not give up because he could not deny   
   himself. Therefore he continued to wait patiently in the face of the   
   corruption of man and peoples. The patience of God. How difficult it is to   
   comprehend this: God's patience towards us.   
    "Through the course of history, the light that shatters the darkness reveals   
   to us that God is Father and that his patient fidelity is stronger than   
   darkness and corruption. This is the message of Christmas night. God does not   
   know outbursts of anger or impatience; he is always there, like the father in   
   the parable of the prodigal son, waiting to catch from afar a glimpse of the   
   lost son as he returns; and every day, with patience. The patience of God.   
    "Isaiah's prophecy announces the rising of a great light which breaks through   
   the night. This light is born in Bethlehem and is welcomed by the loving arms   
   of Mary, by the love of Joseph, by the wonder of the shepherds. When the   
   angels announced the birth of the Redeemer to the shepherds, they did so with   
   these words: 'This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in   
   swaddling clothes and lying in a manger'. The 'sign' is in fact the humility   
   of God, the humility of God taken to the extreme; it is the love with which,   
   that night, he assumed our frailty, our suffering, our anxieties, our desires   
   and our limitations. The message that everyone was expecting, that everyone   
   was searching for in the depths of their souls, was none other than the   
   tenderness of God: God who looks upon us with eyes full of love, who accepts   
   our poverty, God who is in love with our smallness.   
    "On this holy night, while we contemplate the Infant Jesus just born and   
   placed in the manger, we are invited to reflect. How do we welcome the   
   tenderness of God? Do I allow myself to be taken up by God, to be embraced by   
   him, or do I prevent him from drawing close? 'But I am searching for the Lord'   
   - we could respond. Nevertheless, what is most important is not seeking him,   
   but rather allowing him to seek me, find me and caress me with tenderness. The   
   question put to us simply by the Infant's presence is: do I allow God to love   
   me?   
    "More so, do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties   
   and problems of those who are near to us, or do we prefer impersonal   
   solutions, perhaps effective but devoid of the warmth of the Gospel? How much   
   the world needs tenderness today! The patience of God, the closeness of God,   
   the tenderness of God.   
    "The Christian response cannot be different from God's response to our   
   smallness. Life must be met with goodness, with meekness. When we realise that   
   God is in love with our smallness, that he made himself small in order to   
   better encounter us, we cannot help but open our hearts to him, and beseech   
   him: 'Lord, help me to be like you, give me the grace of tenderness in the   
   most difficult circumstances of life, give me the grace of closeness in the   
   face of every need, of meekness in every conflict'.   
    "'Dear brothers and sisters, on this holy night we contemplate the Nativity   
   scene: there "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light'.   
   People who were unassuming, people open to receiving the gift of God, were the   
   ones who saw this light. This light was not seen, however, by the arrogant,   
   the proud, by those who made laws according to their own personal measures,   
   who were closed off to others. Let us look to the crib and pray, asking the   
   Blessed Mother: 'O Mary, show us Jesus!'".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    Christmas Message: "many tears, together with the tears of the Infant Jesus"   
    Vatican City, 25 December 2014 (VIS) - At midday today, the Solemnity of the   
   Nativity of the Lord, the Pope gave his traditional Christmas message from the   
   central balcony of the Vatican Basilica and imparted the "Urbi et Orbi"   
   blessing.   
    "Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Christmas!   
    "Jesus, the Son of God, the Saviour of the world, is born for us, born in   
   Bethlehem of a Virgin, fulfilling the ancient prophecies. The Virgin's name is   
   Mary, the wife of Joseph.   
    "Humble people, full of hope in the goodness of God, are those who welcome   
   Jesus and recognise him. And so the Holy Spirit enlightened the shepherds of   
   Bethlehem, who hastened to the grotto and adored the Child. Then the Spirit   
   led the elderly and humble couple Simeon and Anna into the temple of   
   Jerusalem, and they recognised in Jesus the Messiah. 'My eyes have seen your   
   salvation', Simeon exclaimed, 'the salvation prepared by God in the sight of   
   all peoples'.   
    "Yes, brothers and sisters, Jesus is the salvation for every person and for   
   every people!   
    Today I ask him, the Saviour of the world, to look upon our brothers and   
   sisters in Iraq and Syria, who for too long now have suffered the effects of   
   ongoing conflict, and who, together with those belonging to other ethnic and   
   religious groups, are suffering a brutal persecution. May Christmas bring them   
   hope, as indeed also to the many displaced persons, exiles and refugees,   
   children, adults and elderly, from this region and from the whole world. May   
   indifference be changed into closeness and rejection into hospitality, so that   
   all who now are suffering may receive the necessary humanitarian help to   
   overcome the rigours of winter, return to their countries and live with   
   dignity. May the Lord open hearts to trust, and may he bestow his peace upon   
   the whole Middle East, beginning with the land blessed by his birth, thereby   
   sustaining the efforts of those committed effectively to dialogue between   
   Israelis and Palestinians.   
    "May Jesus, Saviour of the world, protect all who suffer in Ukraine, and   
   grant that their beloved land may overcome tensions, conquer hatred and   
   violence, and set out on a new journey of fraternity and reconciliation.   
    "May Christ the Saviour give peace to Nigeria, where more blood is being shed   
   and too many people are unjustly deprived of their possessions, held as   
   hostages or killed. I invoke peace also on the other parts of the African   
   continent, thinking especially of Libya, South Sudan, the Central African   
   Republic, and various regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I   
   beseech all who have political responsibility to commit themselves through   
   dialogue to overcoming differences and to building a lasting, fraternal   
   coexistence.   
    "May Jesus save the vast numbers of children who are victims of violence,   
   made objects of trade and trafficking, or forced to become soldiers; children,   
   so many abused children. May he give comfort to the families of the children   
   killed in Pakistan last week. May he be close to all who suffer from illness,   
   especially the victims of the Ebola epidemic, above all in Liberia, in Sierra   
   Leone and in Guinea. As I thank all who are courageously dedicated to   
   assisting the sick and their family members, I once more make an urgent appeal   
   that the necessary assistance and treatment be provided.   
    "The Child Jesus. My thoughts turn to all those children today who are killed   
   and ill-treated, be they infants killed in the womb, deprived of that generous   
   love of their parents and then buried in the egoism of a culture that does not   
   love life; be they children displaced due to war and persecution, abused and   
   taken advantage of before our very eyes and our complicit silence. I think   
   also of those infants massacred in bomb attacks, also those where the Son of   
   God was born. Even today, their impotent silence cries out under the sword of   
   so many Herods. On their blood stands the shadow of contemporary Herods. Truly   
   there are so many tears this Christmas, together with the tears of the Infant   
   Jesus.   
    "Dear brothers and sisters, may the Holy Spirit today enlighten our hearts,   
   that we may recognise in the Infant Jesus, born in Bethlehem of the Virgin   
   Mary, the salvation given by God to each one of us, to each man and woman and   
   to all the peoples of the earth. May the power of Christ, which brings freedom   
   and service, be felt in so many hearts afflicted by war, persecution and   
   slavery. May this divine power, by its meekness, take away the hardness of   
   heart of so many men and women immersed in worldliness and indifference, the   
   globalisation of indifference. May his redeeming strength transform arms into   
   ploughshares, destruction into creativity, hatred into love and tenderness.   
   Then we will be able to cry out with joy: 'Our eyes have seen your salvation'.   
    "With these thoughts I wish you all a Happy Christmas!"   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
    The gift of Christian integrity is coherence: think, feel and live as   
   Christians   
    Vatican City, 26 December 2014 (VIS) - At midday the Holy Father appeared at   
   the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus   
   with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square. Before the   
   Marian prayer, the Pontiff gave a brief address to those present, on the   
   subject of coherence with faith.   
    "The Gospel of this feast day shows a part of Jesus' discourse to his   
   disciples in the moment in which He sends them on their mission. Among other   
   things, He says, 'You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever   
   endures to the end will be saved'. These words of the Lord do not disrupt the   
   celebration of Christmas, but strip it of that false saccharine-sweetness that   
   does not belong to it. It makes us understand that in the trials accepted on   
   account of the faith, violence is overcome by love, death by life. To truly   
   welcome Jesus in our existence, and to prolong the joy of the Holy Night, the   
   path is precisely the one indicated in this Gospel: that is, to bear witness   
   in humility, in silent service, without fear of going against the current,   
   able to pay in person. While not all of us are called, as St. Stephen was, to   
   shed their own blood, every Christian is nonetheless required in every   
   circumstance to lead a life coherent with the faith he or she professes.   
   Christian integrity is a grace that we must ask of the Lord. To be coherent,   
   to live as Christians rather than merely saying, 'I am Christian' while living   
   like a pagan. Coherence is a grace we must ask for today".   
    Francis explained that following the Gospel is a "demanding but beautiful   
   path, and those who follow it with devotion and courage receive the gift   
   promised by the Lord to men and women of goodwill". He asked those present to   
   pray "in a special way for those who are discriminated against, persecuted and   
   killed for their witness of Christ ... so that due to the sacrifice of these   
   latter-day martyrs, of whom there are many, the commitment to recognising and   
   guaranteeing religious freedom, an inalienable right of every human being, may   
   be reinforced in every part of the world".   
    After the Angelus prayer, the Pope conveyed his wishes for peace to all those   
   present and prayed to St. Stephen for the grace of Christian coherence:   
   "thinking, feeling and living as a Christian, not thinking as a Christian and   
   living as a pagan".   
      
   ___________________________________________________________   
      
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