Pope Benedict XVI's Christmas Eve Homily and Urbi et Orbi Address

Pope Benedict XVI's homily from midnight Mass last night is posted in English translation at Vatican Radio, Zenit andPapa Ratzinger Forum.  All three have a Vatican translation in different paragraphing style. 

In his homily, the Pope said that God stoops down in coming "as a child to the lowly stable, the symbol of all humanity's neediness and forsakenness. . . . God is in the cloud of the poverty of a homeless child: an impenetrable cloud, and yet a cloud of glory!"  We should ask God to give us watchful hearts, to have the courage "to find God in the form of a baby in a stable."  Drawing near to the child of Bethlehem on Christmas night, he said, "In every child we see something of the Child of Bethlehem."  Thus, he encouraged people to think of children who are suffering, and also to pray for peace in Bethlehem.  He said:

"The Child of Bethlehem summons us once again to do everything in our power to put an end to the suffering of these children; to do everything possible to make the light of Bethlehem touch the heart of every man and woman. Only through the conversion of hearts, only through a change in the depths of our hearts can the cause of all this evil be overcome, only thus can the power of the evil one be defeated. Only if people change will the world change; and in order to change, people need the light that comes from God, the light which so unexpectedly entered into our night."

His Urbi et Orbi Message from Christmas morning is also posted at Vatican Radio, Zenit and Papa Ratzinger Forum.  PRF also has photos from both.  The Pope spoke of God's supernatural grace being for everyone, and of a small group that accepts that grace.  "Jesus was born for everyone, and just as Mary, in Bethlehem, offered him to the shepherds, so on this day the Church presents him to all humanity, so that each person and every human situation may come to know the power of God’s saving grace, which alone can transform evil into good, which alone can change human hearts, making them oases of peace."  The Pope then mentioned many situations in the world in need of that grace.