Pope on Christmas Eve lauds Jesus''humble' start

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By FRANCES D'EMILIO

VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Francis lauded Jesus' humble beginning as a poor and vulnerable baby as he celebrated his first Christmas Eve Mass as pontiff Tuesday in St. Peter's Basilica.

"You are immense, and you made yourself small; you are rich, and you made yourself poor; you are all-powerful and you made yourself vulnerable," Francis said of Jesus as he delivered his homily in the basilica, packed with faithful.

Francis has dedicated much of his nine-month-old papacy to drawing attention to the plight of the poor, of children, and other vulnerable members of society.

He noted that the first to receive news of Jesus' birth were shepherds, who in society were considered "among the last, the outcast."

FULL story at link.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131224/DAAT0S8G0.html

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Pope Francis holds a statue of baby Jesus as he celebrates the Christmas Eve Mass in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

[freshwest]

1. Already Christmas Day there in Rome. Thanks. n/t

[Cha]

2. Mahalo, Steve~

Mele Kalikimaka

[Tx4obama]

3. Christmas Eve Mass with Pope Francis VIDEO, & English Text of Pope's Christmas Eve Prepared Homily

&feature=share

Text of Pope's Christmas Eve Prepared Homily

In English: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/12/24/world/europe/ap-eu-rel-vatican-christmas-eve-text.html

[Tom Ripley]

4. I don't mean to offend, but was being born in a stable really such an appalling and humble act?

I don't think there were many maternity wards around in those days. Didn't many women just walk to the edge of the field and squat?
I know that he grew up to be a great guy and all, but his birth doesn't seem to be particularly mean or arduous.

[trusty elf]

5. "a poor and vulnerable baby"?

I don't think so.....

[IMG][/IMG]

[Swede Atlanta]

6. Hey GOPers....

Jesus was born
(1) Out of wedlock
(2) Fathered by someone other than the man his mother would eventually marry
(3) To a family that was homeless
(4) To a family that was poor by today's standards
(5) In a crude structure and had no crib

These are the same conditions that, not all together, are faced by hundreds of thousands or millions of Americans to whom the GOP turns their backs.

The GOP worships money, power and position. They are not Christians, they are not even in the slightest moral creatures.

[zazen]

7. well said; & our challenge is to not to let hate weaken us

I don't know if I want to go as far as to say they aren't moral creatures--I think they have a different morality.

I think it's so important to keep in mind what you've put so well. I want to cultivate the detached compassion of teachers like Jesus and the Buddha for these deluded human beings (we're all deluded, but theirs seems to be particularly damaging to humanity and the planet). I think it's possible (though very difficult) to stay in focused, righteous, loving anger to effect social, political, and economic change, without having our hearts so consumed with rage and hate that we in effect are less strategic because we're so damned blindingly angry.

That's where I get stuck these days--I get so enraged about what's happening that I fail to be constructive in small ways. It's consuming, this rage at their hate. I become them, if I let myself.

That's where the teachings of this Pope and other people who seem to sincerely follow the teachings of Christ and Buddha and others in those traditions are so powerful. This force of loving, righteous anger is growing in my state of North Carolina. I hope it continues to flower in the new year.