BORN AND REBORN IN A SPECIAL CHRISTMAS, WE WHO ARE NO LONGER USED TO THE UNEXPECTED SPECIALTIES

This Christmas is special because we will not have the dinner like all the other years. With relatives and friends, relegated to the various colored areas of Italy. So let's try not to forget this: it is God that we must put at the center. In him the distances are reduced, they almost disappear, in a spiritual communion. The real dinner we will have this year is the Good par excellence, not to be forgotten for all future dinners, even when the pandemic is over.

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

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the cartoons by Simone Togneri

In the Gospel of the Evangelist Luke is written:

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“She gave birth to her firstborn son, She wrapped in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the hotel ".

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I will try to enter on this holy Christmas day [cf.. my reflections, WHO], to imagine the nativity scene with you. So let's try to put ourselves in the place of one of those pastors. We can feel the freezing cold of the Israeli night, to be out of breath for the ride we did, after being warned by the Angels of this wonder. If we were really there we will observe a very tender scene: a child, with his dad and mom. With the Angels singing Glory to Dio while this baby is pampered by his parents. If we were really there, we will realize that we have a miracle before us. And, because on Christmas night, at least for us, two births occurred. It seems strange to say such a thing, whereas for us Catholics there is no reincarnation.

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So let's see in what sense, there is a double birth. But to do this, let's try to read the wonderful words of St. Leo the Great, the small man in stature, but gigantic in temper, enough to stop Attila at the gates of Rome. So wrote this Holy Pontiff the Great in one of his dogmatic letters:

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«The Son is coeternal with the Father, […] Jesus Christ is God of God, omnipotent from omnipotent, who was born coeternal from eternity; […]. The only begotten Son of the eternal Father, even eternal, was born by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary. Such a birth, occurred over time, he took nothing away from the divine and eternal birth (that he has from the Father), nothing has added to him, but it is all aimed at making man again, who had been deceived ".

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Let's now try to focus on these words: Jesus was born in eternity and was born in time. The Swiss theologian Hans Urs Von Balthasar writes: They, in Eternity, he received life from the Father, the knowledge, the spirit, the word, action and doctrine For us, little witnesses of the evangelical page, this eternal birth is completely dark.

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Indeed the state of Eternity in which there is the one God in three Persons does not coincide with our being rooted in time. Our corporeality, together with the soul and spirit, dictates and marks the moments of our life, our knowing, intuit and also be happy and joyful. In this division enters a subdivision in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, year old, centuries, hundreds, millennia. We enter the world at a certain time and die at another time. This is very special but radically linked to our identity.

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So we really know very little, given to us by faith, of the eternal birth of Logos. But precisely because we are temporary, instead we can enjoy birth over time. Why the Logos Christ took human nature and human flesh. He has entered time, together with us, at a very specific time. From this doctrinal fact we are aware of a great joy. In his Eternity, Greatness and Majesty God decided to be born as a small child eager for care. Because first of all he wanted to be very close to us. God therefore takes human nature, so that we can have full communion with him. Jesus was true God and true man in a portion of time together closely with us.

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According to the Russian writer A. Chekov:

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«In birth certificates it is written where and when a man comes into the world, but the reason and purpose are not specified ".

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Jesus, on the other hand, is clear right away: He was born with the purpose of hugging us and getting close to us. E, after this event, Christmas, every day men have a purpose too: convey this embrace, this affectionate closeness to all those who feel abandoned and alone. A hug in the Truth: this is what he asks us to give the Child God.

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This Christmas is special because we will not have the dinner like all the other years. With relatives and friends, relegated to the various colored areas of Italy. So let's try not to forget this: it is God that we must put at the center. In him the distances are reduced, they almost disappear, in a spiritual communion. The real dinner we will have this year is the Good par excellence, not to be forgotten for all future dinners, even when the pandemic is over. The dinners exist to generate communion between us, but above all to remember that it is God who continues to make himself communion with the world. Let's make this evening very special in a special year: because the celebrated is very special!

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Have a good Advent journey towards the mystery of Christmas.

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"Sweet Jesus, Jesus 'love' [St. Caterina da Siena]

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Rome, 12 December 2020

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Staff Blog

Father Gabriele

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