Thought-provoking Christmas quote by Saint Oscar Romero

Thought-provoking quote from Saint Oscar Romero delivered as part of his las Christmas eve homily before been martyred.

"Tonight we do not look for God among the opulence of the world, or among the idolatries of wealth or among those eager for power or among the intrigues of the powerful. God is not there. Let us look for God with the sign announced by the angels: resting in a manger and wrapped in swaddling clothes made by the humble peasant woman of Nazareth — poor swaddling clothes and a little hay on which this God-made-man rested, on which this King of the ages becomes accessible to humankind as a poor child.

Today is the time to look for this child Jesus, but do not look for him in the beautiful images of nativity sets but look for him among the children lacking proper nutrition who have gone to sleep this evening with nothing to eat. Let us look for him among the poor newspaper boys who sleep in the doorways wrapped in today’s paper. Let us look for him in the shoeshine boy who perhaps has earned enough to buy a small gift for his mother. Let us look for him in the newspaper boy who, because he did not sell enough papers, is severely reprimanded by his stepfather or stepmother. How sad is the history of these children. Yet Jesus takes on all of this tonight. Or let us find Jesus in the young peasant or worker or those unemployed or those who are ill tonight. Everything is not joyful. There is much suffering, many broken homes. There is much suffering and poverty.

Saint Oscar Romero