Brothers and sisters

May the Lord give you peace!

Merry Christmas… “Kalà Cristoyenna”… How beautiful it is to celebrate Christmas here in Nicosia… it is my first Christmas that I celebrate as a bishop… Celebrating Christmas is also a call to stop, to reflect…. It is a time to become better, and to look at the Child of Bethlehem. At the nativity scene… and to remember Bethlehem. And the question arises spontaneously: but Jesus is already born for us. He has already died and risen for us. Why celebrate the birth of Jesus every year? Why celebrate Christmas every year? Yes, for us to celebrate is to remember. But be careful: for us Christians, “celebrating” is not only to remember, but to live the “presence”, the presence of Jesus. Who was born for us in Bethlehem, in the simplicity of the Bethlehem cave. In the company of simple shepherds, as we heard in the Gospel of Saint Luke.

Yes, it is presence. The word Bethlehem in Hebrew is “house of bread”. Yes, every Holy Mass is Christmas. Yes, it is the love of God that became flesh. He became man for us. Yes, we call it the mystery of Christmas because it is a “mystery”. It is a mystery of love: the love of God for us. To understand Christmas well we must feel what the first nativity scene idealized: we must feel our seraphic father Saint Francis. Here are the words of Saint Francis of Assisi: “Behold, every day he humbles himself, as when from the royal throne he descended into the womb of the Virgin; every day he himself comes to us in humble appearance; every day he descends from the bosom of the Father onto the altar in the hands of the priest. O sublime humility! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, so humbles himself as to hide, for our salvation, under the little appearance of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God, and open your hearts before him”.

The Christian who has understood the mystery of a God who became a child in Bethlehem lives differently. The Greek word that narrates the incarnation is the word “Kenosis”. God lowered himself, emptied himself. God comes to us. He humbles himself, he lowers himself, he empties himself. He lowers himself, he humbles himself in the child of Bethlehem, in the hands of the priest, in the appearance of bread. As you can hear from Christians: I do not lower myself… this is the problem among many friends, in politics, and it is the cause of many wars. It is also the problem in many of our families. And even within our communities: power, the fight to see who is right, who is the greatest, who is stronger.

Brothers and sisters Christmas is celebrating the birth of Jesus, who was already born for us. However, He wants to be born every year in our homes, in our lives, He wants to be born in our realities. And Christmas is a time to be with family. In Italy and also here in Cyprus during Christmas time we tell stories, especially to children… And I would like to share a story with you:

In a small village in Italy there was a little boy. He studied in a school. However, he did not have much intellectual capacity. He had some difficulty understanding and everyone considered him stupid, an idiot. With this difficulty he could not pass in school. And all the children went ahead and he always remained behind in the same class. In the end he was already big and found himself studying with the children younger than him.

Christmas arrives, and the teachers organized the Christmas theater in the school. And they began to choose the actors. Who will be Saint Joseph? The most intelligent boy. Who will be Mary? The most intelligent girl. Who will be the shepherds? Who will be the kings? And the most beautiful and intelligent children were chosen. In the end they had to choose who should chase away the Holy Family…. And who did they choose? Him, the child that everyone said was stupid. And they did many tests… and in the end he learned the simple phrase that he had to say to the Holy Family, Mary, Joseph and Jesus. With a strong voice he said: We have no room for you… go away….

When the Holy Family was leaving… he said: come back please! There is no place for you here, but there is a place for you in my house… Yes, use my room. Baby Jesus can play with my toys. Please don’t go away…. Stay in my house!

Yes, dear young people, brothers and sisters, there is no place for Jesus in the media… there is no place for Jesus in our celebrations, there is no place for Jesus in our politics… maybe there is no place for Jesus in our projects…

Brothers and sisters, celebrating Christmas is saying to Jesus: yes Jesus there is a place for you oh Jesus in my life, in my heart, in our projects…. Yes, we want to say as the Church of Cyprus. Yes, Jesus there is a place for you in our lives, in our choices, in our actions… Merry Christmas to all… ““Kalà Cristoyenna”… amen!