Immerse the Nativity
The Franciscan community of Sacro Convento wishes you a Merry Christmas.
Francis of Assisi used to love especially the feast of Christmas, because the Son of God, the King of Glory, comes into the world to bring peace and the presence of God.
Francesco wanted everyone to celebrate, reason why we propose you to live this experience by diving into the Nativity scene.
The Nativity scene is the tender representation of what happened in Bethlehem that night.
Just as the shepherds visited that cave, we relive that moment when we visit the Lord Jesus, wherever we are.
In the same way we visit the Nativity scene, the Son of God also comes to visit us and immerses himself in our humanity, while we immerse ourselves in his presence, sweet, affable and merciful.
Jesus keeps us company even when there are distances between us and we feel lonely.
Saying Francis during Christmas time means Greccio, in memory of when Francis wanted to celebrate Christmas in a castle in the Holy Valley near Rieti. Such desire, in order to remind everyone how God had chosen to have his son born among the poor, not out of bad luck but by choice, surrounded by the straw, heated by the ox and the donkey, with shepherds and their wives rushing from the surrounding mountains: not necessarily the last ones of the Earth, but surely the most sincere people, the most true.