VATICAN CITY (CNS) This year’s economic crisis could help people rediscover the true meaning of Christmas and the values of life, love and charity, Pope Benedict XVI said. After the "consumerist and materialistic scales have been shed, Christmas can then become an occasion to accept as a personal gift the message of hope that comes from the mystery of Christ’s birth," he said at his general audience Dec. 17.
The pope dedicated the talk at his last general audience of the year to the importance and meaning of the Advent and Christmas seasons.
Christmas celebrates the gift of life, which is sometimes fragile or in danger, he said.
As Christians contemplate the birth of Christ in a lowly grotto, "how can we not think about the many children who, still today, are born into enormous poverty in many parts of the world?" asked the pope.
The birth of a child should be a joyous event that stirs up feelings of kindness, concern and tenderness, he said.
But, the pope said, there are also children who are not welcomed into this world and are rejected.
People must not forget the many infants who are unable to survive after they are born because of a lack of medical attention, he said.
The miracle and mystery of Christ’s birth should also bring to mind the many families who long for "the joy of having a child and do not see their hopes fulfilled," he added.
While the present economic crisis is causing so much suffering in many parts of the world, it can also help people focus on the spiritual significance of Christmas, the pope said.
"Under the pressure of hedonistic consumerism, Christmas unfortunately risks losing its spiritual significance and becoming a merely commercial occasion to buy and exchange gifts," said the pope.
However, he said, the current economic crisis and the financial insecurity and difficulties many families are experiencing should prompt people "to rediscover the warmth of simplicity, friendship and solidarity — the typical values of Christmas."
With Christ’s birth, the word became flesh, he said. God has become a tangible, concrete person whom we can touch and contemplate and who "knows us, calls us and guides us," said the pope.
In the Christ Child, God humbly knocks on people’s doors to offer meaning in their life and the free gift of salvation.
God manifested himself as a poor, humble infant in order to conquer human pride and sin, he said.
"Perhaps we would have surrendered more easily before power or wisdom, but God doesn’t want our surrender. Rather, he makes an appeal to our hearts and our free will to accept his love" freely, without coercion, said the pope.
He asked the faithful to welcome Christmas as an opportunity to truly renew their lives, to focus less on themselves and pay attention to the needs and hopes of others.
At the end of the audience, the pope encouraged people to create a Nativity scene in their homes, saying the tradition is "a simple and eloquent way to remember Jesus who, becoming man, has come to dwell among us."