The face of the child
I would love to have been there to see the sweetness of this encounter. Vatican Information Service reports that the Pope met with Italian children this morning and talked to them about the child Jesus.
Addressing the young people, the Holy Father made reference to the slogan – “Beautiful. True” – they had chosen for their formative journey this year. “Christmas,” he said, “is the great mystery of the Truth and Beauty of God Who came among us for everyone’s salvation. The birth of Jesus is not a fable, it is a story that really happened, in Bethlehem two thousand years ago. Faith brings us to recognize in that little Child born of the Virgin Mary, the true Son of God Who, out of love, chose to become man.”
“In the face of the little Jesus,” the Holy Father proceeded, “we contemplate the face of God, which is not revealed through force or power, but in weakness and the fragile constitution of a child. This ‘Divine Child’ … demonstrates the faithfulness and tenderness of the boundless love with which God surrounds each of us. For this reason we rejoice at Christmas, reliving the same experience as the shepherds of Bethlehem.”
“The wonder we feel before the enchantment of Christmas” is, said Benedict XVI, in some way reflected in the birth of all children, “and it invites us to recognize the Infant Jesus in all babies, who are the joy of the Church and the hope of the world.”
And he told the children the Church needs them. What a warm and loving Papa.
