When a child has a bad dream and wakes up crying, Dad goes and says, 'Don't be afraid, don't be scared. I'm here.' The Lord speaks this way, too... Usually, Christmas seems like a very noisy feast, but we can use a bit of silence to hear these words of love, closeness and tenderness.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the comforting presence of a father and the divine, suggesting that love and tenderness provide solace in times of fear.
Pope Francis reflects on the affectionate way a father reassures his child after a nightmare, paralleling this with how God offers comfort and closeness to humanity. He highlights the idea that amidst the chaos and noise of life, especially during moments of celebration like Christmas, it is essential to find silence to hear the tender words of love that provide reassurance and connection.
In practice
A parent might share this quote at a family gathering to emphasize the importance of love and support.
We are a church of sinners but we must not be afraid of holiness. Do not be afraid to aim for holiness and turn yourselves over to the love of God. Holiness does not mean performing extraordinary things but carrying out daily things in an extraordinary way that is with love, joy and faith.
I join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.
No one must say that they cannot be close to the poor because their own lifestyle demands more attention to other areas. This is an excuse commonly heard in academic, business or professional, and even ecclesial circles. While it is quite true that the essential vocation and mission of the lay faithful is to strive that earthly realities and all human activity may be transformed by the Gospel, none of us can think we are exempt from concern for the poor and for social justice
We face so many challenges in life: poverty, distress, humiliation, the struggle for justice, persecutions, the difficulty of daily conversion, the effort to remain faithful to our call to holiness, and many others. But if we open the door to Jesus and allow him to be part of our lives, if we share our joys and sorrows with him, then we will experience the peace and joy that only God, who is infinite love, can give.
More and more people work on Sundays as a consequence of the competitiveness imposed by a consumer society.
This Christmas may we be consistent in living the Gospel, welcoming Jesus into the centre of our lives.
Days of absence, sad and dreary,_x000D_ Clothed in sorrow's dark array, -_x000D_ Days of absence, I am weary;_x000D_ She I love is far away.
If you can really make a man believe you love him, you have won him; and if I could only make people really believe that God loves them, what a rush we would see for the kingdom of God!
Is love an art? Then it requires knowledge and effort. Love is not a spontaneous feeling, a thing that you fall into, but is something that requires thought, knowledge, care, giving, and respect. And it is something that is rare and difficult to find in capitalism, which commodifies human activity.
Ere I could make thee open thy white hand, and clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter, I am your's for ever!
What's the earth With all its art, verse, music, worth — Compared with love, found, gained, and kept?
How can so much beauty hide such a bruised and steely heart, and why must I love him, why must I lean in my weariness upon his irresistible yet indomitable strength? Is he not the wizend funeral spirit of a dead man in a child's clothes?
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.