"Peace on earth to men, loved by the Lord!": The Gloria of the third edition of the Missal introduced in the liturgy, the new translation of Lk 2:14, which overcomes, even in Italian, the traditional misunderstanding resulting from the erroneous interpretation of the text in Latin: translating materially it had highlighted the "good will" of those who welcome the mystery of Christmas, while the original Greek text of the Gospel speaks of the "beautiful plan" that God has for human beings, and this project is the Incarnation of the Son: a free divine initiative, springing from the Trinitarian life. The angels announce it on the night of Bethlehem, expanding to universal announcement what was beginning as an announcement brought to a group of shepherds. And they did not stay there to look at the sky, where the multitude of angels had disappeared, but they said to each other, sensibly: "Let us therefore go to Bethlehem and see this event which the Lord has made known to us" (Lk 2:15). What they found was precisely the sign announced by the angel: a newborn lying in a manger. Tradition has then added the ox and the donkey to Mary and Joseph, suggested by biblical references, of course, but also by a healthy popular realism, given that the Gospel account speaks of a manger.

Those shepherds and that manger certainly did not smell of bubble bath, but - paradoxically - the sign is right there in the middle, it is that Child who has no other word to say, on Christmas night.

Centuries of artistic masterpieces on the mystery of the Nativity should not make us lose sight of the stupendous concreteness of the sign offered by God to humanity, loved by him as it is, without aesthetic adjustments. God became incarnate in a human context made of light and earth: the love of Mary and Joseph but also the smells of a stable ... Luigia Tincani's Christmas wish did not forget this: Jesus "appeared on the straw, accepted the needs and trials of nature, he came and dwelt among sinners ": this year many events (including the experiences lived by those who are healed of the covid) make us reflect on the frailty of the human being and the difficulties of earthly existence: and the Son of God wanted to assume all this, to the end, to transfigure it.

All this comes to mind while reading the scandalized messages that bounce on social media about the nativity scene installed this year in St. Peter's Square:  can’t it be an opportunity to rediscover the theological reality of Christmas, welcoming the "beautiful project" of God on each of us, without the need for any make-up?

The choice is ours. Merry Christmas!