Pope Leo returns to talk about peace on the day in which the Church remembers the martyrdom of Saint Stephen. His “”Christmas”” day, “as the first Christian generations used to say, certain that one is not born only once. Martyrdom is birth into heaven: a gaze of faith, in fact, even in death no longer sees only darkness.”
The Pontiff remembers how bright his gaze was as he went towards death. «It is the face of someone who does not walk away from history indifferently, but faces it with love. Everything that Stephen does and says represents the divine love that appeared in Jesus, the Light that shone in our darkness.” We are called to life by the Child born in Bethlehem, a beauty that attracts, but which is also rejected because it arouses, “from the beginning, the reaction of those who fear for their own power, of those who are unmasked in their injustice by a goodness that reveals the thoughts of the hearts”. And even if the position of those who oppose love to hate is often ridiculed, the truth is that “no power, until today, can prevail over the work of God. Everywhere in the world there are those who choose justice even if it costs, those who put peace before their own fears, those who serve the poor instead of themselves. Then hope germinates, and it makes sense to celebrate despite everything.”
As he had already said on Christmas night, “in the conditions of uncertainty and suffering of the current world, joy would seem impossible”, but this is not the case. And even if “those who today believe in peace and have chosen the unarmed path of Jesus and the martyrs are often ridiculed, pushed out of public discourse and often accused of favoring adversaries and enemies” we must not give up. Because «the Christian, however, does not have enemies, but brothers and sisters, who remain enemies even when we do not understand each other. The Mystery of Christmas brings us this joy: a joy motivated by the tenacity of those who already live fraternity, of those who already recognize around them, even in their adversaries, the indelible dignity of daughters and sons of God.”
And it is «for this reason Stephen died forgiving, like Jesus: for a strength truer than that of weapons. It is a free force, already present in everyone’s heart, which is reactivated and communicated in an irresistible way when someone begins to look at their neighbor differently, to offer them attention and recognition. Yes, this is being reborn, this is coming to light again, this is our Christmas! The Pope invites us to contemplate Mary, «blessed among all women who serve life and oppose care to arrogance, faith to mistrust. May Mary lead us into her own joy, a joy that dissolves every fear and every threat as snow melts in the sun.”
