Pope Francis hit the nail on the head when he said during his Christmas Eve homily that the Holiday Season had been taken hostage by materialism which has put God in the shadows.
The pope was not just making his remark for the millions of Roman Catholics around the world but also to other people who have certainly overlooked the true meaning of Christmas by focusing on the material things that the occasion brings forth like material gifts, food, and plenty of partying.
He explained that Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ and people should be reminded of what it meant to the world. He was born to redeem the world of its sins. So people should be thankful to God for giving mankind that greatest gift that they have ever received in life.
On Christmas Day, Pope Francis delivered his ‘Urbi et Orbi’ or Christmas message before more than 40,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Square in Vatican City, notes the Business Insider.
He offered hope for those scarred by war and harsh conflicts that seem stronger than the yearning for peace.
The pope also touched upon the war in Syria, renewed tensions between Israelis and Palestinians, and those affected by acts of terrorism, particularly in Iraq, Libya, and Yemen.
As the first Latin-American pontiff, Pope Francis also encouraged Colombia to continue on the path of dialogue and reconciliation to end the world’s longest-running civil war and offered hope that Venezuela would take the necessary steps to put an end to current tensions.
The power of love
He also explained in his Christmas Day message that the power of the Child, Son of God and Son of Mary, is not the power of this world, based on might and wealth; it is the power of love.
It is the power which created the heavens and the earth, which gives life to all creation: to minerals, plants, and animals; it is the force which attracts man and woman, and makes them one flesh, one single existence; it is the power which gives new birth, pardons faults, reconciles enemies, and transforms evil into good. It is the power of God, explained the pope.
The pope asked everyone to pray for peace to men and women in the war-torn land of Syria, where far too much blood has been spilled. Above all in the city of Aleppo, site of the most awful battles in recent weeks, it is most urgent that assistance and support be guaranteed to the exhausted civil populace, with respect for humanitarian law.
He said that it is time for weapons to be still forever, and the international community to actively seek a negotiated solution so that civil coexistence can be restored in the country.
Pope Francis also hoped that Israelis and Palestinians would have the courage and the determination to write a new page of history, where hate and revenge give way to the will to build together a future of mutual understanding and harmony.
He hopes that Iraq, Libya, and Yemen, where people suffer war and the brutality of terrorism, be able once again to find unity and concord.
Praying for peace in various countries
The pope also prayed for peace in various parts of Africa, especially in Nigeria, where fundamentalist terrorism exploits even children in order to perpetrate horror and death.
He also prayed for peace in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, so that divisions may be healed and all people of good will may strive to undertake the path of development and sharing, preferring the culture of dialogue to the mindset of conflict.
Pope Francis also asked for peace for the women and men who to this day suffer the consequences of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine, where there is urgent need for a common desire to bring relief to the civil population and to put into practice the commitments which have been assumed, notes the Catholic Herald of UK.
He also asked for harmony for the dear people of Colombia, which seeks to embark on a new and courageous path of dialogue and reconciliation. He hopes that such courage also motivates the beloved country of Venezuela to undertake the necessary steps to put an end to current tensions and build together a future of hope for the whole population.