We rejoice in the birth of the divine child -- the child who "only wants to play, receive, and give love."Christmas always has its idyll. There can be no sadness when life is born, especially when the puer aeternus, the Divine Child, Jesus comes into the world. There are angels that sing, the star of Bethlehem that shines, the shepherds who watch their flock at night, but there are mainly Mary, the good Joseph and the Child lying in a manger, "because there was no room for them in the inn". And, behold, some wise men, called magicians, who opened their chests and offered gold, frankincense and myrrh, mysterious symbols appeared also from the East.
But there was also a bad king, Herod, very cruel to the point of executing his entire family. He heard that he was born in the city of David, Bethlehem, a child who would be the Savior. Fearing to lose the throne, he ordered all children under two years of age to [be] kill[ed] in Bethlehem and its surroundings.
The sacred texts retain a lament [among] the most lacerating of the entire New Testament: ”In Ramah a voice was heard, many cries and many groans. It is Rachel who cries to her children and does not want to be comforted because they no longer exist ”(Evangelist Matthew 2:18).
This year's Christmas brings to mind the current Herods who are decimating our children and youth. Between 2007-2019, 57 children and young people under 14 died in Brazil from bullets lost [random shootings;stray bullets] in police actions. In this year of 2019 alone in Rio de Janeiro, 6 children and 19 teenagers lost their lives in police actions, reports the Crossfire Platform. In the metropolitan region of Rio there have been 6,058 gunfire, with 2,301 people shot, of which 1,213 were killed and 1,088 seriously injured. The most clamorous case was that of the 8-year-old girl Agatha Felix killed by a gunshot in the back when she was inside a Kombi van going home with her mother.
Their names deserve to be mentioned. With a few more years, they had the same fate of the dead for Herod: Jenifer Gomes, 11 years old; Kauan Peixoto 12 years; Kauã Rozário 11 years; Kauê dos Santos 12 years; Agatha Felix 8 years; Ketellen Gomes 5 years.
The governor of Rio de Janeiro, with his fierce police, is being accused of crimes against humanity, as he orders to attack the communities with helicopters and drones, terrorizing the population. Mayor Marcelo Crivella confessed that in the 436 schools installed in the communities, due to police operations, the children lost 7,000 classroom hours.
Together with Agatha Felix's mother, Vanessa Francisco Sales, who was carrying her daughter's doll at the funeral, the same voices are heard as those of the Biblical Rachel: the mothers of Morro do Alemão, of Jacarezinho, of the Chatuba de Mesquita, from Vila Moretti de Bangu, from the Chapadão Complex, from Duque de Caxias, from Vila Cruzeiro in the Complexo de Penha, from Maricá. Let's listen to your regrets:
“There are many voices, many cries and many groans. Mothers mourn their beloved children, killed by lost bullets; They don't want to comfort themselves because they have lost their children forever. They ask for an answer that comes from nowhere. Between tears and many regrets they plead: stop killing our children. Stop, for the love of God. We love our children alive. We want justice".
This is the context of this Christmas of 2019, aggravated by an official policy that uses the perverse means of lies, of fake news, of much rage and visceral hatred. Jesus was born poor and lived poor all his life. And a president emerges who frequently has Jesus on his lips but not in his heart, because he spreads offenses to homoaffectives, blacks, indigenous people, quilombolas and women.
He says openly that he does not like the poor, that is, he does not like those of whom Jesus said: "Blessed are the poor" and called them "my younger brothers and sisters", and that in the twilight of life they will be our judges ( Mt 25.40). That he does not like the poor means that he does not want to govern for the majority of Brazilians who are poor and even miserable, for whom he should govern first and take care of them.
Despite all that, you have to celebrate Christmas. It is dark, but we celebrate humanity and the joviality of our God. He became a helpless child. What happiness to know that we will be judged by a child who only wants to play, receive and give love.
May Christmas grant us a little of that light that comes from the Star that filled the shepherds of the fields of Bethlehem with joy and that guided the wise-wizards towards the grotto. "His light illuminates all the people who come to this world" (Jn 1,9), you and me, everyone, not just the baptized. " Merry Christmas.
Boff's text in the original Portuguese at his site. Translation, slightly smoothed, from the comments here.
Your blogger has been completely felled by a raging head cold. I hope to be back in regular form when the fog clears.
So sad to see what’s happening all over the world. I don’t see any way out for the near future. Very depressing
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