Pope Benedict (homily): The real message of Christams is Joy

[BarbaraTherese]

http://www.zenit.org/english/

Zenit News from Rome: 18.12.05

Real Gift of Christmas Is Joy,

Pontiff Says at Parish

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 18, 2005 (Zenit.org).- Visiting his first Roman parish as Pope, Benedict XVI said that joy, and not an expensive present, is the authentic gift of Christmas gift.

“joy is the true gift of Christmas, and not the expensive gifts that cost time and money.”…
…“And joy we can express in simple ways,” he said: “with a smile, a gesture, with helping out a little, with an act of forgiveness.”…(for full text, go to above link)…
ZE05121806

 

[springbreeze]

Dear Barb

Thank you for posting this up, I read the full article in our Uk Catholic paper and was very happy to see our Holy Father speaking out against this media hype and commercial domination of what is a Holy Feast where the Feast of Christmas is being changed into a ‘holiday season’ purely to feed the shopping frenzy and in the process drown out the true Christmas message and so some are alledgedly ‘not offended’…I have never known anything more ridiculous than people being offended by Christmas!

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

 

[BarbaraTherese]

springbreeze:

Dear Barb

Thank you for posting this up, I read the full article in our Uk Catholic paper and was very happy to see our Holy Father speaking out against this media hype and commercial domination of what is a Holy Feast where the Feast of Christmas is being changed into a ‘holiday season’ purely to feed the shopping frenzy and in the process drown out the true Christmas message and so some are alledgedly ‘not offended’…I have never known anything more ridiculous than people being offended by Christmas!

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa

Hi Teresa…an opportunity to hope that you and yours have a very happy and holy Christmas and blessings on your intentions!

Our Prime Minister here in Australia, John Howard, has also come out and stated that we should not forget that Christmas is a religious celebration…never vote for the man or his party but he endeared me with that statement.

.I have never known anything more ridiculous than people being offended by Christmas!

Those with negative attitudes to Christmas truly sadden me - yet I think that the intrinsic problem may not be theirs, rather that we as Catholic Christians for one are not successfully getting across the true meaning of Christmas. The intrinsic problem then becomes: “How can I get across to those around me the true meaning of Christmas?” this in turn asks “Why is it that some and perhaps quite a lot cannot see and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas?” and isolating that it becomes a challenge to address it in a positive way.

Peace, Joy and Love to you and yours too Teresa…Barb

 

[BarbaraTherese]

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/briefs/cns/20051219.htm#head11
Catholic News Service 19.12.05

Real Christmas gift is bringing joy to others,
not gifts, pope says

ROME (CNS) – The real gift of Christmas is to bring joy to others, not expensive presents that waste both time and money, Pope Benedict XVI said Dec. 18 at Santa Maria Consolatrice Parish in Rome. Joy can be spread in any number of simple ways: “a smile, an act of kindness, a helping hand, forgiveness,” he said. By bringing joy to others, joy will soon come back to those who gave it, he added. “Joy is the real gift of Christmas, not expensive things that cost time and money,” the pope said during his first visit as pope to a Rome parish.

Vatican’s Christmas tree reminds people Christ has come,
pope says

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The shining lights of the Vatican’s towering Christmas tree should remind people that Christ, the light of the world, has come, Pope Benedict XVI told church and civic leaders from Austria. …"At Christmas, in every part of the globe, the good news of the birth of the Redeemer echoes again: The awaited Messiah became man and came among us. “With his shining presence, Jesus has shattered the darkness of error and sin and has brought humanity the joy of his blazing divine light; the Christmas tree is a sign and reminder of this,” he said.