AVVENTO E NATALE

"Quando i giorni diventano via via più corti, quando, nel corso di un inverno normale, cadono i primi fiocchi di neve, timidi e sommessi si fanno strada i primi pensieri del Natale. Questa semplice parola emana un fascino misterioso, cui ben difficilmente un cuore può sottrarsi. Anche coloro che professano un'altra fede e i non credenti, cui l'antico racconto del Bambino di Betlemme non dice alcunché, preparano la festa e cercano di irradiare qua e là un raggio di gioia. Già settimane e mesi prima un caldo flusso di amore inonda tutta la terra. Una festa dell'amore e della gioia, questa è la stella verso cui tutti accorrono nei primi mesi invernali. Ma per il cristiano e in particolare per il cristiano cattolico essa è anche qualcos'altro. La stella lo guida alla mangiatoia col Bambinello, che porta la pace in terra. L'arte cristiana ce lo pone davanti agli occhi in innumerevoli e graziose immagini, mentre antiche melodie, da cui risuona tutto l'incantesimo dell'infanzia, lo cantano.

Nel cuore di colui che vive con la Chiesa le campane del Rorate e i canti dell'Avvento risvegliano una santa e ardente nostalgia, e a chi si disseta alla fonte inesauribile della sacra liturgia il grande profeta dell'incarnazione ripete, giorno dopo giorno, le sue grandiose esortazioni e promesse: «Stillate, cieli, dall'alto, e le nubi piovano il Giusto! Il Signore è vicino! Adoriamolo! Vieni, Signore, e non tardare! Esulta, Gerusalemme, sfavilla di gioia, perché viene a te il tuo Salvatore!». [...] E sempre più cariche di promesse risuonano le parole: «Ecco, tutto è compiuto» (ultima domenica di Avvento) e infine «Oggi saprete che il Signore viene e domani contemplerete la sua gloria». Sì, quando la sera gli alberi di Natale luccicano e ci si scambiano i doni, una nostalgia inappagata continua a tormentarci e a spingerci verso un'altra luce splendente, fintanto che le campane della messa di mezzanotte suonano e il miracolo della notte santa si rinnova su altari inondati di luci e di fiori: «E il Verbo si fece carne». Allora è il momento in cui la nostra speranza si sente beatamente appagata."

(Edith Stein, Il mistero del Natale, Queriniana, 2008, pp.23-25)

Con queste parole della grande filosofa Edith Stein, Philosophical Conscience desidera augurarvi, cari lettori, un felice e sereno Natale.

THE EUROPEAN CASE AND THE RECOVERY OF THE OTHER'S FACE

In recent years the Italian people often found themselves thinking about illegal immigration, especially after the numerous deaths that took place off the island of Lampedusa. The south of Italy, in most cases, has shown great empathic capacities giving shelter and helping those men and women; but in the rest of Europe we have witnessed a continuous indifference, if not hostility as in the case of Malta that shot at those men in order to keep them far from the shores. This leaves us dismayed especially if we pause to reflect that the western countries are the ones that take advantage of the poverty of the third world countries and that also they often are the cause of this poverty.

A similar phenomenon is becoming a reality even for Italy. For various reasons, infact, this nation was slowly sold off to several foreign countries (directly or through third parties), starting from public services and ending nowadays with the sale of the manufacturing companies that in the past have made ​​the 'Made in Italy' famous all over the world. After 150 anniversary of its unification, Italy today is divided into several pieces and owned by other nations as before the Risorgimento. This situation has given rise to waves of Italian emigration to those countries that are taking advantage of the poverty of Italy (and in part are also the cause of it) and to a consequent increase in hostility towards Italians as demonstrated by the recent killing of a young Italian in Great Britain.

What kind of society is this that takes pleasure in the indigence of others and disregards the human being?! Is this the kind of well-being we are running after?!

We have lost sight of the human being, the other, the neighbor: to borrow the words of the philosopher Emmanuel Levinas, we have stopped looking at the Other's face. It is the face in its nakedness and irreducibility that recalls us, remind us that the other cannot be cut out or reduced to ourselves. The Other's face makes a demand and puts us in front of the responsibility we have towards each other.

It is the relationship with the other in his dignity as a human being that we need to recover . We live in a system where everything has become 'Economy' : the politics in which the State has become a big company rather than the institution that safeguards the welfare of all the people; the happiness, which has been turned into material well-being; the relationships looking often for an economic advantage; the person become a consumer, customer, and even a product. Let us be builders of a new society that is able to look at the face of the other. We do not need everything that is sold to us in order to be happy: the consumerism has nothing to do with happiness. We work tirelessly to pay for things that we do not really need and doing so, life escapes us. Let us build a society that is able to look at the essential, at what really enriches the life of man : human relationships , nature , family, friends and love. A society with respect for the dignity of every human being. Utopia? As Margaret Mead said: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has!”.