My dear brothers, as we prepare to once again celebrate the great Solemnity of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, I wanted to take a moment to send to you my own personal Christmas greetings!
Christmas is, after all, the preeminently Franciscan feast. I can't think of a celebration in our Church year that captures the spirit of St. Francis more completely than the celebration of the poor and simple birth of our Savior in a manger on that silent night so long ago. It is a feast that captures simplicity, it captures evangelical poverty, it captures the ordinary and yet powerful ways that God breaks into our lives and into our world.
We know that St. Francis himself was enraptured by the notion that God physically entered the world; that He became one of us - a spiritual movement for Francis that reached its heights in two singular moments in his life. The first, of course, most profoundly on La Verna as God graced him with the marks of the sacred stigmata, but the other on that Christmas in 1223 when St. Francis wanted so desperately to experience the moment of the Nativity that he recreated the scene in the town of Greccio. Christmas is a profoundly Franciscan moment.
And, we experience this Christmas in a profoundly Franciscan year. It is hard to gauge just how different the world is, how different the Church is this year with our new Holy Father - a Jesuit Pope with not only a Franciscan name, but clearly with a Franciscan heart! Pope Francis continues to be a revelation to the Church and beyond. We have seen him named Person of the Year by not only Time Magazine, but other publications as well (some of them quite surprising), as he has truly captured the imagination of the Church and the world.
A passage from the Book of Revelation comes to mind as I think of Pope Francis and his impact on the Church this year, "Behold, I make all things new." (Revelation 21.5) And at the same time, I keep thinking of another quote that is more familiar, "There's nothing new under the sun." Pope Francis has renewed us and continues to renew us by reminding us of that which is not new at all - he has reminded us what it looks like when we follow the Gospel. He reminds us what it looks like to be authentic followers of Jesus Christ, just as St. Francis did 800 years ago. He has reminded us that following the Gospel is not an unreachable goal, but in fact, an every day possibility that can be lived with love and joy.
The Pope has reminded us that the most important aspects of following Christ are found in action - it is important that we be more loving, more welcoming, more compassionate, more forgiving. It is critical that the poor are not those that we walk past or, at best, pity; but that the poor are our primary constituency or better yet, those who are poor are our brothers and sisters. And, he makes no bones about it. He said last week, "When one sees a Christian who does not want to lower himself to serve; that person isn't a Christian: he is a pagan!"
A story that touched me greatly, but I think missed by many, was a small mention of the little-known office of Vatican Almoner. This oddly named office has been around since the time of St. Francis and is in charge of handing out money and other "alms" to the needy. The Pope has revitalized this office telling its head, Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, that he would not even need a desk because he'll be spending his time on the streets finding and helping the poor. And the Holy Father personally hands his Almoner stacks of letters regularly from the many requests he receives from those in need. Not to mention the reports that, at least earlier in his papacy, the Pope himself was sneaking out at night to visit with the poor and the homeless. God bless this Pope!
We are reminded once again this Christmas that the word "Christian" is meant to be a verb more than it is a noun. It is meant to be a life lived more than it is a label worn. It is meant to be a heart changed by love and compassion more than it is a only a mind conformed to a set of doctrines and dogmas. When people look at Pope Francis, they clearly see a reflection of Jesus, the One whom He follows. When people look at us, do they see the same?
We are reminded, so especially as Franciscans, that we too are meant to get out from behind our desks and find the poor in our midst because they too are our brothers and sister. That when we come upon the homeless around us that they are Christ, who also entered this world as a homeless person. We are called to pray for and even with those in prison or on death row because they are Christ, who was also among the accused, convicted and executed. We are renewed to work even harder for justice and to be on the side of the immigrant (whether legal or not) because they are Christ, who Himself was a stranger in a strange land. We are commissioned again to be agents of peace in the troubled places of our world because Christ is there too as He grew up in a land torn by strife and occupation. And, to never forget that all of these things begin at home in the heart of our friaries. These same qualities should first and foremost emanate from there.
My brothers, we are blessed and privileged to live in extraordinary times. Let us rise to the extraordinary challenges they present by being truly men of Christ, truly men of Francis, truly men of the Gospel, which Pope Francis has reminded us is a Gospel of joy.
And as you gather on this Christmas, know that I am remembering each of you personally in my Christmas Masses and prayers and inviting you to join me in praying for each other and especially our brothers who have made their way home to God in Heaven during this year coming to a close.
I am grateful to each of you for the many ways that you witness to Christ in your lives, in your fraternities, in your ministries and to me personally. May God bless you!
I'll end with one more quote from our blessed Pope Francis. Let it be an inspiration for the year ahead and let these be the qualities that define our fraternal life together - hope and tenderness:
"Christmas speaks of tenderness and hope. When God meets us he tells us two things. The first thing he says is: have hope. God always opens doors, he never closes them. He is the father who opens doors for us. The second thing he says is: don't be afraid of tenderness. When Christians forget about hope and tenderness they become a cold Church, that loses its sense of direction and is held back by ideologies and worldly attitudes, whereas God's simplicity tells you: go forward, I am a Father who caresses you. It does me good and it makes me think of the tenderness God has towards us."
My brothers, have a very Merry Christmas!
Peace,
