GREETINGS OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
OF THE "SANTA MARTA" DISPENSARY
Paul VI Hall
Sunday, December 16th 2018
Goodmorning everyone!
I'm happy to be with you. At this time of Christmas I thought if the Child Jesus had some influence, some colds ... And what did mother do? I am not sure that there was a dispensary in Nazareth or in Egypt, but I certainly know that if the Madonna had lived in Rome she would have taken him to this Dispensary, surely.
I thank all of you, who are the structure and life of the Dispensary, the doctors, the collaborators, the nurses ...; and also the collaboration of the boys, the fathers and the mothers of the children. It is a body, there is life in the body. It is seen in the spontaneity of children. Working with children is not easy, but it teaches us so much. It teaches me one thing: that to understand the reality of life, we must lower ourselves, as we lower ourselves to kiss a child. They teach us this. The proud, the proud can not understand life, because they can not lower themselves. We all - the professionals, the organizers, the nuns, all - give so much to the children; but they give us this announcement, this teaching: turn down. Get down, be humble, and you will learn to understand life and understand people. And all of you have this ability to lower yourself. Thank you so much for this, thank you so much!
I wish you a Merry Christmas, a good holy Christmas to all, and I thank you very much for what you do, really. And, also, I hope that there is no indigestion with that cake so big! Thank you!
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