Without a doubt, Christmas is a very special time in all those places in the world where the Good News of the birth of the Son of God has arrived. No matter the circumstances of the moment, there is something that happens in simple souls that leads them to share.
But what does Christmas bring us? Getting to know people is not easy; even getting to know oneself is very complicated. And it is striking that this is so; because the closeness to the object of knowledge cannot be greater: what is wrong with us?
The answer could not be otherwise; the instrument with which one knows oneself fails us. Something has become clouded within oneself, and that has made us lose the ability to recognize what is inside. When a person is struck by some action of his or hers; For example, if you are aware of a small sacrifice or that you have given a generous alms, what is happening is that this fact has been so unique in your way of life that it stands out from the rest of the uniformity of your usual acts. That is, usually what seems appropriate to us is presented that way, because we have become accustomed to that type of action.
Yesterday a friend sent me a short video that shows how the use of personal time has changed from 1930 to the present. If in that year, a person used 22.7% of their time to care for their family; today, what is dedicated to it is only 4.52%. But, what is most surprising is that at the same time, that person dedicates 60.76% of their time to social networks. Therefore, it is very common that when we come across someone who has some free time unexpectedly, that person is looking at their cell phone, checking WhatsApp, is immersed in TikTok, Instagram or some other application. We easily adopt practices that become habitual; and these habitual practices are often the ones that reduce our inner field of vision.
Faced with this phenomenon that is totally common among human individuals, the God of Truth has wanted to come and explain to us what Love is. And unlike what we thought of this joyful reality, what He has come to tell us is that it is only possible to love when one renounces possessing the loved one. That the other ways of understanding love are not true, that they are false; that they do not lead to peace, but to inner conflict. That only those who act thinking of the loved person love, but without claiming their possession, their gratitude or their total availability. In other words, He has come to teach us that in order to learn to love, we must also learn not to possess.
This is, therefore, what Christmas brings us. The discovery of what it really means to love someone. This is the imprint that we poor men needed to move adequately within this joyful reality of love. That is why, since the first Christmas in the history of mankind, many women and men have been able to live very happily – something that was not possible before, even if it is hard for us to imagine. An extraordinary event for us too, who have this opportunity.
A very Merry Christmas!
