Christmas is coming. And we'll put up the usual moralistic whining recriminations against the "consumerist Christmas."
It is a dreary refrain "in which many have specialized clergy, but also many lay people, non-believers - for example from the pages of La Repubblica, Corriere the evening or print - blame the alleged paganism of the "race to the gifts (and do, of course, while living in their own newspapers and their advertising publishers thrive on consumption).
Besides the "Christmas consumption" is also a benefit to our economy is suffering from a broken GDP, which is irritating to see the same people who hurl anathemas on consumerism, then scream - the following month - for companies that close to the economy is stagnating and the deficit grows (and the debt as a proportion of GDP).
So I appeal to pastors: please, this year, these lamentations evitateci anticonsumistiche.
Because there is nothing more unbearable (and acristiana) feel the priests at the Mass of Christmas - just as Jesus was born, our Saviour, the joy of life - instead of talking about him instead of inviting us to rejoice instead of consoling our suffering, we scrambled to put the faithful who have exchanged gifts.
Sometimes one almost has the uneasy feeling that at Christmas tuonino against consumerism because they have nothing to say about Jesus, why not surprise most of its coming into being, because they do not know the wonder.
"Expertus potest quid sit Jesum diligere believe."
How can you - when has experienced the friendship of the Savior and he's accompanying the ineffable beauty - to thunder against the illuminations, dinners and gifts, instead of talking about him?
are not like those Pharisees who - in front of ll'uomo mysterious with a single touch healed a paralyzed man - they began to argue because he had done on Saturday?
almost normal and it was obvious that one could reach out and heal a man paralyzed. It did so not to be astonished even violence from such a thing. And you
priests today have to give the biggest news of all time, the most moving, unbelievable, consoling, that is God becomes man and comes to live among us, who comes to heal us, save us, have the news that nothing is more sad and desperate as before, and instead of shouting at yourself to burst into tears of joy and emotion ( because if we were not really so tragically distracted we should weep with joy), instead of shouting from the rooftops, you stand to bother about gifts? Almost annoyed by the joy of the people?
Now that's impiety! Moreover, if we want to be evangelicals, we must recognize that the first Christmas gift was exactly what two thousand years ago were the shepherds and the Magi to live it well.
And the Gospel exalts per questa spontanea gratuità. Del resto era un’umile risposta a un immenso dono.
Perché in realtà è Dio stesso che inaugura il “Natale dei regali”. Il “Grande Consumista” è Colui che ci ha regalato il cielo e la terra, l’universo intero, con tutto quello che contiene.
Nessuno ha dissipato e regalato così tanto i suoi beni come quel Dio che ha voluto letteralmente svenarsi per noi.
Natale non è altro che questo: la follia di Dio.
È la sua irraggiungibile umiltà, avendo voluto spogliarsi della sua maestà e della sua gloria per abbassarsi fino a farsi un piccolo bambino povero e potersi donare a noi senza umiliarci, ma even begging for our love.
One can imagine a love like this madness?
Think about it. Is there a King so great, rich and powerful who has everything. It therefore gives you not only precious stones and pearls, but the whole world with all its wonders. But not enough, because we are dissatisfied and unhappy, and then wants to give you more.
could give happiness (for all we worry what else if not for happiness?) Or it might give you the beauty and peace of heart or love or the warmth of friendship and might even give you all this for ' eternity, without the sadness of the end e della morte.
Ma ha deciso di farti un dono ancora più grande dove tutto questo è contenuto: se stesso, il suo unico e meraviglioso Figlio che letteralmente “è” tutto questo. Infatti Gesù è la vera felicità, la pace, l’amore, la gioia, la vita e lo è per sempre.
E allora come si fa – davanti a un tale Re che ti dona se stesso e tutto il suo regno, senza che tu lo meriti neanche lontanamente – come si fa a non essere strafelici e a non essere mossi spontaneamente, anche noi, a donare?
Ci sono passi bellissimi di Benedetto XVI sul “dono” nell’enciclica “Caritas in veritate”. Egli vede nella cultura del dono even an immense social resource.
But then the priests from the altar on Christmas should mean exactly the opposite of the jeremiad against consumerism: they should rather urge people to donate even more, to give not only to friends, children or relatives, but to fill with gifts and love all those who were less fortunate, those who live in poverty, those who suffer, because they too can rejoice in the day of joy.
Pope Saint Leo the Great, in his famous Christmas sermon, centuries ago, it announced and almost shouted: "Our Saviour, dear friends, is born this day: rejoice! There is no room for sadness in the day when life is born, una vita che distrugge la paura della morte e dona la gioia delle promesse eterne”.
Vorremmo sentire i parroci o i vescovi che ci ripetono queste parole, che incitano a non fermarsi a pochi regali, a Natale, ma a donare più possibile. A donare perfino se stessi.
E soprattutto a fare a se stessi il regalo più bello: l’amicizia di Cristo.
Mi sembra di sentire qualche amico prete che obietta: “va bene, dici belle cose, ma come si può tacere davanti a chi pensa solo ai regali, alla settimana bianca o alla vacanza alle Maldive o sul Mar Rosso e neanche va alla messa di Natale?”.
Amico sacerdote, perché tu, come loro, pensi che la settimana bianca o le Maldive o il Mar Rosso siano in competizione con il Figlio di Dio che si fa uomo?
Chi ha fatto le maestose montagne e il loro cielo di azzurro purissimo? E chi dà consistenza ai miliardi di cristalli di neve che accecano di luce? E i fondali o i coralli del Mar Rosso? E la luna e le stelle?
“Tutto è stato creato per mezzo di Lui e in vista di Lui e tutto in Lui consiste”. E allora come privarsi di lui? Dovresti dire a coloro che si contentano di così poco (una settimana alle Maldive), a coloro che si rassegnano alla settimana bianca, che possono avere molto di più.
Perché a Natale ci si dona colui in cui c’è la bellezza degli oceani e delle montagne innevate, il refrigerio the summer breeze, the colors of autumn woods, the sweetness of friendship, the yearning of young love, the ardor of the love of mothers and even the taste of the succulent fruits of the earth, the purity of ' water and the taste of wine. In him there is a taste of life itself, the meaning of life.
So in the Mass we are all snow-capped mountains and blue seas, all the beauty of the universe. No coincidence that the liturgy involves all five senses in worship, because God became flesh and came to save the whole man, came to bring him a happiness which passes through the human senses, human feelings. E 'come to deify any man.
"For the Son of God has God made man for us," says St. Athanasius of Alexandria (De Incarnatione, 54, 3: PG 25, 192).
Who - tell me - who, knowing albeit that may be so masochistic as to refuse this amazing gift: to be transformed into gods, to be deified, to participate in God's lordship over the universe, share the joy of God?
Antonio Socci on Free of December 21, 2010
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