Make space for God, Pope says in Christmas sermon
VATICAN, Pope Benedict led the world's 1.1 billion Roman Catholics
into Christmas with a midnight mass on Tuesday, urging people to find
time and space for God, the needy and the suffering.
Benedict, marking the third Christmas season of his reign, said a
solemn mass for about 10,000 people inside St. Peter's Basilica on a
chilly night. The ceremony was broadcast live to 42 countries.
Wearing gold and white vestments, the 80-year-old pontiff wove his
sermon around today's significance of the birth of Jesus.
He said the fact that Jesus was born in a manger because there was no
room for Mary and Joseph at the inn in Bethlehem had modern parallels.
"In some way, mankind is awaiting God, waiting for him to draw near.
But when the moment comes, there is no room for him," he said.
"Man is so preoccupied with himself, he has such urgent need of all
the space and all the time for his own things, that nothing remains for
others - for his neighbour, for the poor, for God. And the richer men
become, the more they fill up all the space by themselves. And the less
room there is for others."
The spirit of Christmas, the Pope said, should make everyone
recognise the darkness of a world where many people were closed into
themselves because they did not want to receive God or his message.
"Do we have time for our neighbour who is in need of a word from us,
from me, or in need of my affection? For the sufferer who is in need of
help? For the fugitive or the refugee who is seeking asylum?
"Do we have time and space for God? Can he enter into our lives? Does
he find room in us, or have we occupied all the available space in our
thoughts, our actions, our lives for ourselves?" he said.
In the run-up to Christmas, the Pope several times urged Catholics to
rediscover its religious significance, lamenting that the holiday had
been dominated by materialism.
Tuesday, Reuters |