The Bishop of Córdoba, Jesús Fernández, wrote a moving letter to wish his diocese a Merry Christmas. “For some time our streets and squares, the windows of shops and balconieswere adorned with bright lights and vibrant colors … which announce that something big is going to happen. It will happen, yes, because the world is turning very fast and soon other experiences will be ‘sold’ to us,” he begins.
“Looking beyond this passing splendor requires us to be attentive so that the humble but eternal light that shines in an isolated Palestinian town does not go unnoticed. In a dark world, full of shadows of sin and deathGod wanted to light a small but powerful light, which illuminates the whole world. He did it in Bethlehem. His parents, Joseph and Mary, had come to register, obeying the order of King Herod.
“And as there was no room for them in any inn, because they were a humble and simple family, they had to take refuge in a poor gate. There, surrounded by animals, the Child was born. God became man by adopting the humblest form, that of a defenseless and fragile Child, and He became a man for man’s saketo show that even the most humble person deserves her love, to make us understand how much she loves the human condition,” says Mgr Fernández.
Likewise, “he was born marginalized to show that every marginalized person is also a child of God and that no one is left outside the orbit of his love. When we contemplate him in the cradle, we not only feel loved by him, but also we hear your call to love to those who, like him, live in marginalization and poverty. “God became a child to teach us to love, to teach us to care for one another.”
According to him, “the poorest people, the shepherds, did it to him, bringing him cottage cheese and honey. The neighbors did it, but also the wise men from the East, noble and rich people who also offered him their gifts. This family could not have survived without the loving attention of the Father, tenderly expressed by the neighbors, but also by those who came from far away.
Clearly, for the Bishop of Cordoba “there is another Christmas: the Christmas of a God who becomes a child to save us, while at the same time showing us his love for the little ones and the excluded. There is another Christmas, that of those who, faithful to their calling, dedicate themselves to caring for and accompanying those who, like Jesus, lack food, clothing, housing, health, dignity. volunteers collect food and they distribute them, to those who accompany people who are alone and overwhelmed by the weight of life, to those who welcome immigrants because they cannot find any available accommodation… We can never thank them enough for their testimony.
As the Jubilee of Hope draws to a close, “we thank God who, as the mystery of the incarnation reminds us, the mystery of Bethlehem, has given hope to the whole world with his love. We are sure that the only way to reap the ripe fruit of hope“It’s sowing love.”
“We also thank the Lord because he makes us participate in these sowing, contributing to the work and collaboration so that no one lacks what is necessary to live with dignity, a dignity that is not measured only by the material well-being and social inclusion, but also through the knowledge of Jesus Christ and life in grace, within a community and missionary Church. By sowing love, we will reap inexhaustible hope.
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