|
INTENTION : |
That the birth of the Redeemer may bring peace and hope to all people of good will.
|
The Pope asks for peace and hope, two good things which are necessary and important for every human heart. But the reality is that there is a huge amount of suffering, pain and lack of peace... hope has been snatched away in too many places and in too many human hearts.
In his intention for this month the Pope shows his conviction that the celebration of the Saviour's birth is a just the right answer to so many kinds of difficulties in the world. How can this be? How can the remembrance of a child born two thousand years ago in a village hidden away somewhere in the north of Israel, a poor place in a poor country, bring peace and hope to the complex world of today?
This intention from the Pope seeks to affirm that precisely this child, Jesus of Nazareth, son of a humble woman married to the village carpenter, incarnates the answer that our planet needs. Stripped of power and prestige, without weapons and without violence, one more among the world's poor, this child became a model of humanity for all his brothers and sisters. Innocent of all the accusations against him, he let himself be rejected, insulted and killed for love of his friends. And this love to the end became the way to bring about new life and a new world for everyone.
In a society wounded by injustice and violence, where too many people have died, and are still dying due to ambition for power and money, the Pope tells us that the answer is to be active in proclaiming Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
He encourages us to show, with him, that the weapons of humility and love are more powerful than the most sophisticated armaments. He encourages us to spread the news of the birth of the poor man of Nazareth as the force that is able to change the self-centred and perverse logic which causes pain and destruction.
Proclaiming Jesus in all times and in all ways is the best gift that the Church can offer the world. As Pope Benedict says: 'The greatest work of charity is precisely evangelization, which is to say the service of the Word. No action is more beneficial...' (Message for Lent 2013).
Let us make the Pope's intention for this month become reality. May the memory of the Redeemer's birth be effectively the great good news pronounced over humanity, including those who do not as yet believe in him.
Jesus Christ, the name which is above all names, humbly offers us salvation.
Claudio Barriga, sj
Director General Delegate
Apostleship of Prayer
Eucharistic Youth Movement
|
|
