Dear friends,
Christmas is approaching. A child is born, Jesus is born, but there is no place for him in the inn, as the Gospel tells us. Often in this world, there is no room for the little ones, no room for children, no room for the weak. Yet, Jesus is born. He is born because there is a mother waiting for him with her tenderness, Mary. Tenderness, the warmth of a mother, allow that child to be born and find love, affection, and a future.
Let's reflect on this: how much tenderness is missing in our world? The warmth of words, gestures, and affections, because only in the warmth and tenderness of gestures, affections, and words can new things be born, and new things can have a future.
The Holy Scripture says, 'Behold, I make all things new.' There is something new in Christmas, something new in the child who is born, welcomed by the tenderness of his mother. Our world is too harsh. Jesus, shortly after his birth, will encounter the violence of Herod, who wanted to suppress all children in the infamous Massacre of the Innocents. Why doesn't this world want new things? This is the question posed to us this Christmas. Why is there a lack of peace in many parts of the world, and why is there war? Why doesn't our world want to make room for those fleeing from war and hunger? Why doesn't this world welcome the elderly and puts them aside? Why isn't this world hospitable towards women, girls, and boys, and doesn't provide them with education? These are the significant questions of this Christmas, well answered by the Gospel.
The warmth and tenderness of a mother enable Jesus to have a future and bring with him many new things, and the joy of the shepherds, the joy of all of us who can be those who welcome Jesus by helping those who are small, weak, alone, or marginalized, as it will happen in the many Christmas meals of the Community of Sant'Egidio where those who serve and those who are served come together.
A Christmas of joy, a Christmas of welcome, a Christmas of tenderness.
From Sant'Egidio, many, many wishes for a Merry Christmas.
Marco Impagliazzo
