Christmas Day

On this holy night, while we contemplate the Infant Jesus just born and placed in the manger, we can reflect on how we welcome the tenderness of God?  Do I allow myself to be taken up by God, to be embraced by God, or do I prevent God from drawing close?  “But I am searching for the Lord,” we could respond.  Nevertheless, what is most important is not seeking God, but rather allowing God to seek me, to find me and to caress me with tenderness.  The question put to us simply by the infant’s presence is: do I allow God to love me? 

More so, do we have the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us, or do we prefer impersonal solutions, perhaps effective but devoid of the warmth of the gospel?  How much the world needs tenderness today!  The patience of God, the closeness of God, the tenderness of God. 

The Christian response cannot be different from God’s response to our smallness.  Life must be met with goodness, with meekness.  When we realize that God is in love with our smallness, that God made himself small in order to better encounter us, we cannot help but open our hearts and pray: “Lord, help me to be like you, give me the grace of tenderness in the most difficult circumstances of life, give me the grace of closeness in the face of every need, of meekness in every conflict.”

–   Pope Francis