Pope’s pre-Christmas meeting with university students

(December 16, 2011) At a time like this, marked by new and ever more sophisticated technologies and a historic dynamism which at times seems overwhelming, the invitation to await God such as during Advent, appears to be out of time, almost an invitation to exit history. Pope Benedict XVI made this remark on Thursday evening to some 10,000 students of the universities of Rome during a traditional pre-Christmas Vespers prayer with them in Rome’s St. Peter’s Basilica. The Pope noted that many in our days, particularly in university halls, ask whether it is worth placing one’s trust in the Babe of Bethlehem whom we find in the manger between Mary and Joseph. The Pontiff proposed that Jesus, who "experienced human time, his growth, his immersion in history" is the "sign of the patience of God." The Holy Father invited the students to rekindle their hope because the coming of the Lord is near, rather he is with us and it is possible to build together with him. In the stable of Bethlehem man's solitude is overcome, our existence is no longer at the mercy of impersonal natural and historical forces, our house can be built upon the rock: we can plan our history, the history of humanity, not as a utopia but in the certainty that the God of Jesus Christ is present and walks with us."