‘Jesus is the smile of God’
Exchanging Christmas greetings with employees of the Holy See and Vatican City State Governorate, Pope Francis said: “Jesus is the smile of God. He came to reveal to us the love of our heavenly Father, His goodness, and the first way He did so was to smile at His parents, like every newborn child in this world. And they, the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, because of their great faith, were able to accept that message, they recognised in Jesus’ smile God’s mercy for them and for all those who were waiting for His coming, the coming of the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel.
“Behold, dearly beloved, in the manger we too relive this experience: to look at the Child Jesus and feel that God is smiling at us there, and smiling at all the poor of the earth, at all those who await salvation, who hope for a more fraternal world, where there is no more war and violence, where every man and woman can live in his or her dignity as son and daughter of God.”
Christians facing genocide
Fr Andrzej Halemba, an expert with Aid to the Church in Need, said: “I cannot imagine the Middle East without Christians. But the threat is real. ISIS wanted to eradicate Christians. That genocidal mentality is alive with Al-Nusra and other groups.
“If Christians can stay together and help each other they can stay in the Middle East. If they don’t, it can be like Turkey after the terrible genocide in 1915.
“Christians are the soul of the country and they play a very important role in Middle Eastern societies. They are the peacemakers. Christians work for peace and peaceful co-existence and collaboration for the good of the country.”
Importance of change
In an address to the Roman Curia on December 21, Pope Francs commented on St John Henry Newman’s statement that “here below to live is to change, and to be perfect is to havechanged often”.
The Pope said: “Naturally, he is not speaking about changing for change’s sake, or following every new fashion, but rather about the conviction that development and growth are a normal part of human life, even as believers we know that God remains the unchanging centre of all things. For Newman, change was conversion, in other words, interior transformation.”
(Compiled by Fr Joe Borg)