Homiletics of the Fathers of The Island of Patmos

- homiletics -

CHRISTMAS IS THE FEAST OF TENDERNESS OF GOD MADE MAN COME TO LIVING AMONG US

Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation, the glory of each of us in the Lord. We are the dream that the baby Jesus is doing sleeping in the arms of Mary. Let's believe with firm faith and Trinitarian Crowned the dream of each of us: the Word was made flesh, Really, coming to dwell in our midst, truly, in the flesh, with his spirit and his divinity.

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Author:
Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci, o.p.

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Dear brothers and sisters,

Salvador Dali: Nativity, the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe

Merry Christmas to all! And the Lord warm our hearts with his warmth and joy of children. The Liturgy of the Word of this Holy Night gives us a prophetic song, an Apostle Paul's Letter and one of Luke's Gospel passage that recounts the birth of the Word of God made man, the redeemer [texts of Liturgy of the Word: WHO].

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All in life we ​​waited and witnessed the birth a grandson, a cousin, of a child. Here then there is Christmas for this family celebration: the party of the tenderness of God who became man. But there is something more, as Jean-Paul Sartre wrote about love:

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"The lover wants to be" worldwide "for sweetheart means that arises side of the world".

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The small child in the manger It is our whole world, therefore,: the one who gives meaning and direction to our nights. Let's see why, first reading the prophetic words of Isaiah:

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"Because each shoe soldier marching booming / and every cloak drenched in blood / will be burned, Data feed the fire. / Because a child is born to us, /He has been given to a child. / On his shoulders is the power ".

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It is noted an obvious contrast built by Isaiah of the soldier who has power and defense in the rumble, into violence, in the blood, in fire, and announced that the baby is defenseless, vulnerable, tender and devoid of force. The announced is Jesus, who has the power of agape. And the child will show naked, as it is really: that man will show who really is the man. That is the living being created in God's image, in its physicality and fragility and awaiting the grace of God to be holy. The child announced by Isaiah is Jesus showing us that we live among the torment of vulnerability and divine grace. This is also announced by St. Paul in his Letter to Titus:

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"My son, It appeared the grace of God, which brings salvation to all men and teaches us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live in this world with sobriety, with righteousness and piety ".

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The story of Jesus' birth really squeeze the heart and gives us another big announcement. To better understand this we divide the text into three parts. From the first moment in which St. Luke tells us:

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"In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census should be of the whole earth. This first census was made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Everyone went to be enrolled, respective cities'.

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The Evangelist Luke shows that God enters the world in Jesus, at a given moment in history, because God, which it is in History, It is made visible in its historic mission and visible, objectively verifiable and by testimonial to all. So God does not act in theory: It does not remain in heaven, but it draws near, concrete next to us. This brings us to the second moment:

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"While [Joseph and Mary] you were there, time came for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, She wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because for them there was in its slot '.

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Really poignant. I wonder how it is possible to find a place to allow the birth of a mother, I do not know how it was possible for men of the time. Mary and Joseph, however, are not discouraged, and at the end of Jesus' birth, wrapped by human bands of Mary, wrapped by the love of Giuseppe. God lets himself be wrapped in our swaddling clothes. From this we pass the third time:

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"An angel of the Lord appeared to [of the shepherds] the glory of the Lord shone around them. [..] the angel said to them,: “Don't worry: there, you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people: today, the City of David, is born for you a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. This sign for you: You find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger ' ".

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Here at this point is a wonderful exchange: God had let enveloped by human; it's here, the shepherds, They allow themselves to be enveloped by the light of divine love transmitted by the Angel. So the man is stripped from its internal divisions, from its fragility, its divisions, from his sin nuclei and poured a greater love. Each of us at Christmas is wrapped by this Angel of Light. Every person of good will, Christmas Eve is part of this wonderful exchange and becomes God's masterpiece. Crediamoci all tonight: Christmas is the feast of the Incarnation, the glory of each of us in the Lord. We are the dream that the baby Jesus is doing sleeping in the arms of Mary. Let's believe with firm faith and Trinitarian Crowned the dream of each of us: the Word was made flesh, Really, coming to dwell in our midst, truly, in the flesh, with his spirit and his divinity.

Amen!

Rome, 24 December 2019

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