杏MAP导航 at Audience: The humble and poor bear witness to Jesus’ birth
By Christopher Wells
In his continuing catechetical series on “Jesus our Hope,” 杏MAP导航 Francis turned to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, highlighting the humility of God, who chose to be born in a particular time and place, and in the most humble circumstances.
Even before His birth, the 杏MAP导航 said, Jesus made Himself our “companion on the journey,” traveling in the womb of Mary, His mother, to visit Elizabeth; and later, with Mary and Joseph, traveling to Bethlehem to be enrolled in the census.
First witnesses of the Good News
In his catechesis, which he asked Fr. Pierluigi Giroli, IC, to read, 杏MAP导航 Francis explained that the manner of Christ’s birth was “unheard of” for a king. Jesus, he noted, was not born in a royal palace but in the back of a house, in the place where the animals were kept.
The first witnesses of the Messiah’s birth were the shepherds: “men of little culture, malodorous from constant contact with the animals, living on the margins of society.”
And yet, the 杏MAP导航 said, the shepherds practice the very occupation “by which God Himself makes Himself known to His people.” And He chooses them as the first recipients of the greatest proclamation of all time: “A Saviour has been born for you, who is Messiah and Lord.”
Here, too, 杏MAP导航 Francis focused on the humble circumstances of Jesus’ appearance: the shepherds find Him lying in a manger, a feeding trough. The good news that their Saviour, the Messiah, is to be found in “a very humble place, reserved for animals… opens their hearts to wonder, praise, and joyful proclamation.”
As the 杏MAP导航 noted in his Apostolic Letter, Admirabile signum, “It is the humble and the poor who greet the event of the Incarnation.”
Capable of wonder and praise before God
The Holy Father invited the faithful to seek the grace of being capable of “wonder and praise before God,” as the shepherds were, “and to be capable of cherishing what He has entrusted to us: talents, charisms, our vocation, and the people He places beside us.”
Finally, he said, “Let us ask the Lord to be able to discern in weakness the extraordinary strength of the Child God, who comes to renew the world and transform our lives with His plan full of hope for all humanity.”
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