Pope Attacked at Christmas Eve Mass: And What He Said

I got back from Christmas Eve Mass at Our Lady of the Angels church, here in Sauk Centre, over an hour ago. It was a good Mass - but nowhere near as eventful as the one at St. Peter's in Rome. For which I'm duly grateful.

Pope, Cardinal Attacked at Christmas Eve Mass

First, the good news: Pope Benedict XVI is okay, after being grabbed and knocked down by a woman at today's Christmas Eve Mass.

Now, the bad news: Cardinal Roger Etchegaray seems to have a broken leg. He's been hospitalized. He was knocked down, too.

The woman apparently pulled something like this before. There are trade-offs between security and the Pope having contact with people.

It's anyone's guess, why the woman jumped over a barrier and went for the Pope. She's been detained for questioning, according to Reuters, and hasn't been identified.

Now Something Really Important: What Pope Benedict XVI Had to Say

More to the point, Pope Benedict XVI had good advice in his Christmas Eve homily. The full text of the English translation is several places online, including:

• "May Our Lord come to us each day, Pope says at Christmas Eve's Mass"
  Catholic News Agency (December 24, 2009)

I recommend - strongly - reading the full text. But, here are a few excerpts. Consider them intellectual appetizers.

"...'To you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord' (Lk 2:11). The Lord is here. From this moment, God is truly 'God with us'. No longer is he the distant God who can in some way be perceived from afar, in creation and in our own consciousness. He has entered the world...."

"...The story of the shepherds is included in the Gospel for a reason. They show us the right way to respond to the message that we too have received. What is it that these first witnesses of God's incarnation have to tell us?

"The first thing we are told about the shepherds is that they were on the watch – they could hear the message precisely because they were awake. We must be awake, so that we can hear the message. We must become truly vigilant people...."

"...to develop a receptivity for God: for the silent promptings with which he chooses to guide us; for the many indications of his presence. There are people who describe themselves as 'religiously tone deaf'. The gift of a capacity to perceive God seems as if it is withheld from some. And indeed - our way of thinking and acting, the mentality of today's world, the whole range of our experience is inclined to deaden our receptivity for God, to make us 'tone deaf' towards him...."

"...God comes to us as man, so that we might become truly human. Let us listen once again to Origen: 'Indeed, what use would it be to you that Christ once came in the flesh if he did not enter your soul? Let us pray that he may come to us each day, that we may be able to say: I live, yet it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)' (in Lk 22:3).

"Yes indeed, that is what we should pray for on this Holy Night. Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem, come to us! Enter within me, within my soul. Transform me. Renew me. Change me, change us all from stone and wood into living people, in whom your love is made present and the world is transformed. Amen."
(Benedict XVI, via Catholic News Agency)

There's quite a lot more. As I wrote, I strongly recommend that you read the whole homily.

And, Merry Christmas!

Vaguely-related posts:

• "Christmas? Yeah, it's a Pretty Big Deal"
  (December 24, 2009)
• "Three Things That Go By the Name of Christmas"
  (December 24, 2009)
• "Christmas Nativity Scenes and St. Francis of Assisi"
  (December 24, 2009)
• "Pope St. Gregory VII: A Great Reformer (or Huge Pain in the Neck)"
  (September 1, 2009)
• "Vacation for the Pope: A Slightly Broken Wrist and Waiting in Line"
  (July 17, 2009)

In the news:

• "May Our Lord come to us each day, Pope says at Christmas Eve's Mass"
  Catholic News Agency (December 24, 2009)
  • (Full text of the Holy Father's homily)
• "Pope knocked to floor but unharmed at Mass incident"
  Reuters Canada (December 24, 2009)

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A tip of the hat to catholicism, on Twitter, for the heads-up on this news item.