ADMIRABILE SIGNUM:

THE NATIVITY SCENE IN THE ATRIUM

«The nativity scene shows God as he came into our world, but it also helps us reflect on how our life is part of God’s own life. It invites us to become his disciples if we want to attain ultimate meaning in life» (Admirabile Signum, n. 8)

The nativity scene in the Atrium of the Gregorian University - created this year by the University Chaiplancy and the Student Relations Office, with the collaboration of the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Church - combines a number of symbols.

First, the boat that appears in the background is an ecclesiological image: the Navicula Petri. When Peter's boat finds itself tossed about by the waves, Jesus calms the wind and the storm. The boat is therefore a symbol of hope in Christ, which is why it is surmounted by a ship mast in the form of a cross. It is Christ who guides the boat through the waves of the sea, and the arm of the great statue of Jesus behind the nativity scene seems to indicate the route. The sail then recalls, through the nomen sacrum IHS, that particular reality of the Church that we live here every day, and whose spirituality guides us in our formation: the Company of Jesus.

The boat plows the seas of history. It is the most eloquent and current image of those who try to escape from war, famine, poverty, from a present without a future. It is the image of those who face the unknown, and even death, led not by hopeless, but by courageous hope in a peaceful life. Thus the Holy Family, immersed in this landscape that is its background, is itself a guide and symbol of hope for the most marginalized and poor, for those who flee without knowing where they will land.

One last aspect of this nativity scene is hinted at by the garbage bags that litter the sea.  These throw away plastic islands float about the sea as symbols of the poisonous fruits of the "waste culture".