The essence of the birth festival of Jesus Christ is “that God has come for all people”, is Cardinal Christoph Schönborn in his Friday column in the free newspaper “Today”. Therefore, the following must apply: “Nobody is excluded. Nobody should be left without consolation and joy ”, said the Vienna Archbishop, who will celebrate the Christmas mass with people affected by homelessness in the Vienna Caritas community.

Schönborn wrote that he had a hard time answering the question about his most beautiful Christmas memory. As a child, for him at Christmas it was not only the anticipation of happiness and the presents, but also painfully noticeable tensions in the family. “I know that Christmas can also be associated with a lot of stress: loneliness, wounds of memory, grief for a loved one.”

Bishop Glettler

Glettler: Let the darkness light up

In the Tyrolean daily newspaper, Bishop Hermann Glettler described the Christmas event as God’s light that shines in “dark places” of people and helps people to leave them. It is no coincidence that Orthodox Christmas icons locate the birth of Christ in a cave, according to the Innsbruck shepherd. Fears, threat scenarios, insensitivity to others due to prosperity, but also violence, addictions and life lies could be such caves; as well as today’s “discourse inability”, in which people move in “communication caves”, from which only reproaches, allegations and indignation get out and information beyond one’s own ideas is simply ignored.

Christmas means “to be noticed and valued”, continues Glettler. In Jesus, God is personally and reliably there and turns to people, “regardless of performance and in all need”. Christmas is also the best time to “clean up” the inner life, because: “The light of God is healing. And everything that comes to light can be healed. “

Elbs: Church as “Hope Department”

Especially in the Corona period, everyone experiences fears, hardship and creation, as well as disillusionment and fatigue, said Bishop Benno Elbs in an interview with the “Krone”. At the same time, however, there is also a Bethlehem for everyone, which means “that hope and confidence come into these human situations”. Maintaining confidence is an important task of the religions, which is why the Catholic Church must die “Department for Hope, Confidence and Joy”, same Elbe.

Even for people who are not anchored, Christmas events have a lot to say, stressed Elbs. “We are touched in our hearts when we look at a child,” said the diocesan bishop of Feldkirch, who advised: “Look at a child and let what it triggers in you have an effect on you. The attitude of a child can change the world. ”Christmas can also be felt through“ Christmassy ”people and through a Christmas atmosphere, which also includes Christmas gifts.

Bishop Krautwaschl

Krautwaschl: Giving yourself away

Similar to the tip from Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl in the Styrian “Week” on non-believers for Christmas: “Give something. Do not focus on yourself, but on the other. To discover that I am not happy alone, but when I give something, when I give, when I love. From there the way to God is not that far. “

According to his statements, the bishop of Graz also resolves to “become as curious as a little child”. In particular, it is about “living in the now” and taking the present seriously, something that children are particularly good at. Christmas helps as a “sign that God is there”.

The bishop described the latest social upheavals in the wake of the pandemic as a process of cognition: “I believe that in recent years, when things have been very good for us, we have interpreted the prevailing coexistence as togetherness. Now we realize that we have forgotten how to talk to one another, to listen to one another. “

Bishop Marketz

Marketz calls for “Christmas amnesty”

Bishop Josef Marketz wished a “mutual Christmas amnesty in society” in an interview with the “Presse” and appealed: “Let’s try it together, let’s trust each other, let’s walk the path to a good future together!” He himself was vaccinated three times, But I also have friends “who are completely against the vaccination” and keep talking to them, said the Bishop of Gurk-Klagenfurt. The fact that after major crises there was also the greatest change in societies in the past is “almost a sign of hope” for him. This also applies to the church, because “we in the church need change,” said Marketz.

What he perceives as more dangerous about the current situation is “that trust in the authorities is waning”, as well as the “noisy extremes”, said the Bishop of Kätner. He believes that divisions are emerging because of the duration of the pandemic. In addition, people experience dying that their fears will not be accepted and feel that they are “objects of politics and medicine”. The church has to “accompany out of the gospel” consisting of the bishop. He himself does not believe that Jesus would lead prayer processions. “He would turn to people, everyone. He would probably say: Have more trust, don’t be afraid! “, Says Marketz.

Bishop Scheuer

Scheuer: Option for life

The Linz Bishop Manfred Scheuer pointed out the topicality of the crib figures in the “Oberösterreichische Nachrichten”. The shepherds stand for “those who missed out, the outcasts, the mute, the desperate and marginalized”, as well as for the sick and dying, who all hope for the miracle “that their life will take a good turn”. You could find hope at the crib, because there “resignation can be overcome”, according to the diocesan bishop. Angels are representatives for those who “bring God to people” or “give the feeling of unconditional love”.

The figure of St. Joseph stands for that person whose plans were tacitly outdated, but who nevertheless “went and was there when he was needed”. Scheuer continues: “The coming of God needs people who are ready to follow God’s trail. And just grab hold of it and act when it is needed. “Live”. Finally, the necessary center of the manger is the child, who shows God’s incarnation.

The Christmas event includes a wide variety of biographies and life plans, together with the bishop. “Christmas is when there is cohesion and solidarity and also the willingness to put what is common before what separates, to listen to one another and not to judge. Christmas is when there is charity and the willingness to renounce. Christmas is when we are ready to make life possible and put the option for life in the foreground. ”Christmas cannot be forbidden.

(kap – sk)