Pope Francis: 'Consumerism stole Christmas'

Pope Francis advised Catholics on Sunday not to waste time complaining about coronavirus restrictions but instead focus on helping those in need.

Speaking from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square on December 20, the pope encouraged people to imitate the Virgin Mary's "yes" to God at the Annunciation.

"What, then, is the 'yes' we can say?" churches. "Instead of complaining in these difficult times about what the pandemic is preventing us from doing, we do something for someone who has less: not yet another gift for ourselves and our friends, but for a person in need that no one thinks of. ! "

He said he wanted to offer another piece of advice: that in order for Jesus to be born in us, we must dedicate time to prayer.

“Let us not be overwhelmed by consumerism. "Ah, I have to buy gifts, I have to do this and that." That frenzy of doing things, more and more. It is Jesus who is important, ”he stressed.

“Consumerism, brothers and sisters, has stolen Christmas. Consumerism is not found in the manger of Bethlehem: there is reality, poverty, love. Let us prepare our hearts to be like those of Mary: free from evil, welcoming, ready to receive God “.

In his Angelus speech, the pope meditated on the reading of the Gospel for the fourth Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday before Christmas, which describes Mary's encounter with the angel Gabriel (Lk 1, 26-38) .

He noticed that the angel told Mary to rejoice because she would conceive a son and would call him Jesus.

He said: “It seems to be an announcement of pure joy, destined to make the Virgin happy. Among the women of that time, what woman did not dream of becoming the mother of the Messiah? "

“But together with the joy, those words herald a great trial for Mary. Because? Because she was Joseph's "betrothed" at that time. In such a situation, the Law of Moses stated that there should be no relationship or coexistence. Therefore, having a son, Mary would have transgressed the Law, and the punishment for women was terrible: stoning was foreseen “.

Saying "yes" to God was therefore a life-or-death decision for Mary, the pope said.

“Certainly the divine message would have filled Mary's heart with light and strength; however, she was faced with a crucial decision: to say “yes” to God, risking everything, even her life, or to decline the invitation and continue her ordinary life “.

The pope recalled that Mary responded by saying: "According to your word be it done to me" (Lk 1,38:XNUMX).

“But in the language in which the gospel is written, it is not simply 'let it be.' The expression indicates a strong desire, it indicates the will for something to happen, ”he said.

In other words, Mary doesn't say, 'If it has to happen, let it happen… if it can't be otherwise…' It's not resignation. No, it does not express a weak and submissive acceptance, but rather it expresses a strong desire, a lively desire “.

“It is not passive, but active. She does not submit to God, she binds herself to God. She is a woman in love prepared to serve her Lord completely and immediately ”.

“He could have asked for some time to think about it, or even for further explanation of what was going to happen; perhaps he could have set conditions ... Instead he doesn't take time, he doesn't keep God waiting, he doesn't delay. "

He compared Mary's willingness to accept God's will with our hesitations.

He said: “How many times - we think of ourselves now - how many times our life is made up of postponements, even the spiritual life! For example, I know it is good for me to pray, but today I don't have time ... "

He continued: “I know it is important to help someone, yes, I have to do it: I will do it tomorrow. Today, on the threshold of Christmas, Mary invites us not to postpone, but to say 'yes' ”.

Although every "yes" is expensive, the pope said, it will never cost as much as the "yes" of Mary, who brought us salvation.

He observed that "be done to me according to your word" is the last sentence we hear from Mary on the last Sunday of Advent. His words, he said, were an invitation for us to embrace the true meaning of Christmas.

“Because if the birth of Jesus doesn't touch our lives - mine, yours, yours, ours, everyone's - if it doesn't touch our lives, it escapes us in vain. In the Angelus now, we too will say 'May it be done to me according to your word': May Our Lady help us to say it with our lives, with our approach to these last days in which to prepare well for Christmas ", He said. .

After reciting the Angelus, the Holy Father highlighted the difficult situation of seafarers on Christmas Eve.

"Many of them - some 400.000 worldwide - are stuck on the ships beyond the terms of their contracts and are unable to go home," he said.

"I ask the Virgin Mary, Stella Maris [Star of the Sea], to comfort these people and all those who find themselves in difficult situations, and I invite governments to do everything possible to allow them to return to their loved ones."

The pope then invited the pilgrims, who were standing in the square below with headgear, to visit the exhibition "The 100 cribs in the Vatican". The annual appointment is held outdoors, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, under the colonnades surrounding St. Peter's Square.

He said the nativity scenes, which come from all over the world, have helped people understand the meaning of the Incarnation of Christ.

“I invite you to visit the nativity scenes under the colonnade, to understand how people try to show how Jesus was born through art,” he said. "The cribs under the colonnade are a great catechesis of our faith".

Greeting the inhabitants of Rome and pilgrims from abroad, the Pope said: "May Christmas, now near, be for each of us an occasion for interior renewal, prayer, conversion, steps forward in faith and fraternity between we. "

“Let's look around us, let's look above all to those in need: the brother who suffers, wherever he is, is one of us. It is Jesus in the manger: the one who suffers is Jesus. Let's think about this a bit. "

He continued: “May Christmas be closeness to Jesus, in this brother and sister. There, in the needy brother, there is the crib to which we must be in solidarity. This is the living nativity scene: the nativity scene where we truly meet the Redeemer in people in need. Let us therefore walk towards the holy night and await the fulfillment of the mystery of salvation “.