Our Hearts are in Bethlehem

 

by Pa Rock

Resident of the Planet

Last night in his traditional Christmas Eve message from Vatican City, Pope Francis looked at the state of the world through the lens of war.  The Pontiff, dressed in a white robe and standing at the foot of one of St. Peter's grand columns, told the 6,500 gathered congregants  - and the world through modern technology - that "the clash of arms even today . . . prevents Jesus from finding room in the world."   Then he added "Our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war."

Bethlehem, the home of the Nativity, is a city in the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the West Bank, and while it has not endured the degree of devastation that  is befalling the other Palestinian territory of Gaza, it is suffering nonetheless.  This year Palestinian Christian leaders in the West Bank cancelled their traditional festivities related to Christmas to show solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza.  Instead of Bethlehem's traditional Nativity scene of the Baby Jesus swaddled in a manger, this year Mary is holding the infant and standing next to Joseph on a pile of rubble and surrounded by concertina wire.

The Pope also said:  "We are close to our brothers and sisters suffering from war.    We think of Palestine, Israel, Ukraine.  We also think of those who suffer from misery, hunger, slavery.  May the God who took a human heart for himself infuse humanity into the hearts of men."

The Pope's Christmas Eve address was a great speech emboldened with the stark imagery of war as it drops onto the lives of real people.  But for the Pope's words to be impactful, they must rise above the constant wall of noise being generated by politicians and arms merchants as they constantly strive to keep the world angry and divided.

War is an ugly business that feeds the wealthy and elects the unworthy.  It is seldom about resolving anything.

Pope Francis is elderly and frail, and he often has to be pushed about in a wheelchair - but he still has a remarkably clear vision of the world.  The Pope is a man of peace, and peace sells bumper stickers.  War, on the other hand, sells combat boots, uniforms, weapons, munitions, delivery systems, vehicles, aircraft, coffins - and all manner of things that create billionaires and prop up world economies.

Talk hard, Your Holiness, because you are wailing into a very strong wind.

And yes, our hearts should be in Bethlehem and every other place in the world where humanity is at risk of being abandoned for the benefit of those who are already dripping in privilege.  Their quest for wealth and power and status comes at a serious cost to the rest of us.

So this is Christmas, 2023.