Speaking before praying the Angelus in the library of the apostolic palace, Pope Francis emphasizes that "God always wants to communicate with us". " God became flesh … because it indicates our human condition in all its weakness, in all its frailty." In the new year "things will get better to the extent that we work for the common good, above all for the disadvantaged".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) - Jesus is the Word, which "means from the beginning God wants to communicate with us, He wants to talk to us." And he "became flesh", not "to visit us", but to "be with us". Thus Pope Francis has focused on the essential points of the Gospel of the second Sunday after Christmas (John 1, 1-18), introducing today's Angelus from the library for the apostolic palace.
Francis said “the fact that Jesus was the Word from the very beginning means that from the beginning God wants to communicate with us, He wants to talk to us. The only-begotten Son of the Father (see v. 14) wants to tell us about the beauty of being children of God; He is “the true light” (v. 9) and wants to remove the darkness of evil from us; He is “the life” (v. 4), who knows our lives and wants to tell us that He has always loved them. Here is today’s wondrous message: Jesus is God’s eternal Word of God, who has always thought of us and wanted to communicate with us.”
To do so, He went beyond words. In fact, at the heart of today’s Gospel we are told that “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (v. 14). The Word became flesh: why does Saint John use this expression “flesh”? Could he not have said, in a more elegant way, that the Word was made man? No, he uses the word flesh because it indicates our human condition in all its weakness, in all its frailty. He tells us that God became fragile so He could touch our fragility up close. So, from the moment that the Lord became flesh, nothing about our life is extraneous to Him. There is nothing that He scorns, we can share everything with Him. Dear brother, dear sister, God became flesh to tell you that He loves you like that, in your frailty; right there, where you are most ashamed. He became flesh and never turned back.".
“He did not put our humanity on like a garment that can be put on and taken off. No, He never detached Himself from our flesh. And He will never be separated from it: now and forever He is in heaven with His body made of human flesh. He has united Himself forever to our humanity; we might say that He “espoused” Himself to it".
“Indeed, the Gospel says that He came to dwell among us. He did not come to visit us; He came to dwell with us, to stay with us. What, then, does He desire from us? A great intimacy. He wants us to share with Him our joys and sufferings, desires and fears, hopes and sorrows, people and situations. Let us do this, let us open our hearts to Him, let us tell Him everything. Let us pause in silence before the crib to savour the tenderness of God who became near, who became flesh. And without fear, let us invite Him among us, into our homes, into our families, into our frailties. He will come and life will change.”
After the Marian prayer, Francis, renewing his wishes for the new year, said that beyond myths and wishes, in the new year "things will improve to the extent that we work for the common good, above all for the disadvantaged". “Taking care of each other and our common home”, without continuing to “make war”, focusing only on “the economic” or that which gives most “pleasure”.