HOPE IS BORN
Peace to you from the Garden of Gethsemane!
We have already entered the strong time of Advent and the Lord invites us to revive our hope in him, the Eternal who was born for us. We too are invited to be born again for Him. Advent is the appropriate and very special time in which we are called to contemplate the mystery of the Incarnation, in the splendor of the full moon night, when the Son of God becomes flesh, deciding to become one of us and dwell among us!
We live in an age where it seems that every reference is shattered; the crisis is social, ecclesial and personal, God, often, is no longer our fundamental reference. Yet even in this historical moment so paradoxical, inhabited by conflicts, hatred, rivalry, revenges justified by the great political powers, he continues, in his infinite mercy, to dwell among us as a God Man (cf Jn 1,11-14): this gives us so much hope!
So, in this strong time, we are given the opportunity to revive our sense of faith and belonging to the Lord, to believe that our God, the Emmanuel, is the God of the impossible. One of our wise friars, venerated by the Church as a Doctor, Blessed Duns Scotus, states: "Potuit, decuit, ergo fecit", which means: it was convenient to do this, he could do it and did it! Everything is possible to God, and we with so much hope and faith want to call on him again: "Come Lord Jesus". The Lord is born again, simply asks to be hosted, to discover the wonder of being in contact with the King of the universe! This is the wonder of hope, which is not given by men, politics or what human strategy, but it is the hope that comes from those who live it in their own hearts and put it into practice with an active life, illuminated by this Presence of God. It is a seemingly fragile, small, human, hidden, in need of being guarded, it is the Truth to embrace and kiss with the most true and intense love we have: it is the Son of God, the Baby of Bethlehem!
The birth of the Son of God renews in us the eternal marriage of the Lamb and perpetuates itself in time for us little ones, and ask each one of us to be celebrated today, in view of the meeting in which we will contemplate him face to face: sublime mystery!
He is the Love, his dream is to save the whole world, for this He comes! Let us contemplate this mystery with the trepidation that the Poverello of Assisi witnessed in Greccio, about 800 years ago! (1223-2024). The Franciscan sources tell us that in Greccio, a remote village in the Rieti Valley, the Poverello wanted «to remember that Child who was born in Bethlehem and somehow glimpse also with the eyes of the body the inconvenience in which he found himself due to the lack of things necessary for a newborn; how he was laid in a manger and how he lay on the hay between the ox and the donkey» (FF 468: 1Cel 84). Then the biographer, Thomas Celano, tells of the celebration of the Nativity of the Lord, the holy Mass and the Gospel sung by Francis: "And the day of joy, the time of exultation, comes! (...) that night, which shone with its shining star every day and every time. (...) in that scene the simplicity is honored, the poverty is exalted, the humility is praised. Greccio has become like a new Bethlehem. (...) Francis dresses up as a levite, because he was a deacon, and sings the holy Gospel with a sonorous voice: that loud and sweet voice, clear and audible is an invitation for all to think of the supreme reward. Then he speaks to the people and with sweet words recalls the newborn poor King and the small city of Bethlehem”.
Finally, the grace and effects of that event are told (...) "through his holy servant Francis, the child Jesus was resurrected in the hearts of many who had forgotten him, and was deeply impressed in their loving memory. At the end of that solemn vigil, each returned home to his own house full of ineffable joy". (FF 469-470: 1Cel 85-86). This is our wish and our prayer for each one of us and for all humanity: Lord, arise in our heart! You are the Prince of true peace! You are the Love, do not stop, do not back away because of our closures and indifference... You who are the Bridegroom of humanity, we know that "great waters cannot extinguish love" (Ct 8:7), come!
From the Garden of Gethsemane, we are convinced that even today the Lord seeks other children, good and available souls who can repeat with him the "yes" to the Father, in order to bring to completion his plan of universal salvation. Let’s help him!
In the holy night of His Nativity, we take you with us to Bethlehem.
Merry Christmas!
