0
0
POPE FRANCIS GENERAL AUDIENCE
Paul VI Audience Hall – Wednesday, 20 December 2023
Catechesis. The Greccio Nativity, school of simplicity and joy
Gospel of Luke 2:8-12
In that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. 10 And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people;.11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
Dear brothers and sisters,
Eight hundred years ago, at Christmas in 1223, Saint Francis organized the living nativity scene in Greccio. While Nativity scenes are being prepared or completed in homes and other places, it is good for us to rediscover their origins. How did the crib come into being? What was St Francis’ intention?
He said this: “I want to represent the Child born in Bethlehem, and in a certain way to see with the eyes of the body the hardships in which he found himself for lack of the things necessary for an infant: how he was laid in a manger and how He lay on the straw between the ox and the donkey” (Tommaso da Celano, Vita prima, XXX, 84: FF 468).
Francis did not want to create a beautiful work of art, but through the nativity scene, to wanted to provoke amazement at the extreme humility of the Lord, at the hardships he suffered, for love of us, in the poor grotto of Bethlehem. In fact, the biographer of the Saint of Assisi notes, “In this moving scene, evangelical simplicity shines forth, poverty is praised, humility is related. And Greccio became like a new Bethlehem” (ibid., 85).
I’ve emphasized one word, “amazement.” And this is important. When we Christians look at the crib as a beautiful thing, as something historical, even religious, and pray, this is not enough. Before the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, before the birth of Jesus, we need this religious attitude of amazement. If I do not come to this amazement in the face of the mysteries, my faith is simply superficial; a “calculating faith.” Do not forget this.
And one of the characteristics of the nativity scene is that it was conceived as a school of sobriety.
And this has much to tell us. Today, in fact, there is a great risk of losing sight of what is important in life and, paradoxically it increases precisely at Christmas – the mentality of Christmas is changed, – immersed in a consumerism that corrodes its meaning. The consumerism of Christmas. It’s true, that you want to give gifts, that’s fine, that’s one way, but that frenzy to go shopping, that draws attention elsewhere, and the sobriety of Christmas is gone. Let us look at the manger: the reverence for the manger. Sometimes there is no inner space for wonder, but only to organize the parties, to have the parties.
And the nativity scene was created to bring us back to what is important: to God who comes to live among us. That is why it is important to look at the nativity scene, because it helps us understand what is important and also the social relationships of Jesus in that moment, the family, Joseph and Mary, and loved ones, the shepherds. People before things. And often we put things before people. That doesn’t work.
But the Nativity scene of Greccio in addition to sobriety, which makes us see, speaks also of joy.
Because joy is a different from having fun. But having fun is not a bad thing if you do it on good roads.
It is not a bad thing, it is a human thing. But joy is deeper still. More human. And sometimes there is a temptation to have fun without joy; to have fun by making noise, but the joy is not there.
It is a bit like the figure of the clown, who laughs and laughs, and makes people laugh, but the heart is sad.
Joy is the root of good Christmas fun.
And about sobriety, the chronicle from back in the day says, “And the day of gladness comes, the time of rejoicing! […] Francis […] is radiant […]. The people flocked and rejoiced with a joy they had never tasted before […]. Everyone returned home full of ineffable joy” (Vita prima, XXX, 85-86: FF 469-470).
Sobriety, amazement, leads you to joy, true joy, not artificial joy.
But where did this Christmas joy come from?
Certainly not from having brought home presents or having experienced lavish celebrations.
No, it was the joy that overflows from the heart when one tangibly touches the nearness of Jesus, the tenderness of God, who does not leave us alone, but consoles us [translator’s note: stands with (con) those who are alone (soli)]. Closeness, tenderness, and compassion, such are the three attitudes of God.
And looking at the Nativity scene, praying before the Nativity scene, we can experience these things of the Lord that help us in our daily life.
Dear brothers and sisters, the nativity scene is like a small spring from which we draw the nearness of God, the source of hope and joy. The nativity scene is like a living Gospel, a domestic Gospel: Like the well in the Bible. It is the place of encounter where we bring to Jesus the expectations and worries of life, like the shepherds of Bethlehem and the people of Greccio did. Bring the expectations and the worries of life to Jesus.
If we entrust to Jesus before the crib all that is dear to us, we too will experience “great joy” (Mt 2:10), a joy that comes precisely from contemplation, from the spirit of wonder with which I go to contemplate these mysteries.
Let us go to the manger. Look, everyone, and allow your heart to feel something inside. I thank you.
