Bring your Baby Jesus Figure to be Blessed

Next Sunday (the Third Sunday of Advent) is also known as Bambinelli Sunday. There is a tradition on this Sunday, which was promoted by Pope Saint John Paul II, of using this day to bless the Baby Jesus figurines used in your home nativity sets. A table will be prepared in the church where you can place your figurine before Mass. At each Mass, the figurines will be blessed immediately before the closing recessional.

Pope Benedict explained this tradition saying, "The blessing of the Bambinelli [Baby Jesus figurines] as they are called in Rome, reminds us that the crib is a school of life where we can learn the secret of true joy. This does not consist in having many things but in feeling loved by the Lord, in giving oneself as a gift for others and in loving one another. Let us look at the crib. Our Lady and St Joseph do not seem to be a very fortunate family; their first child was born in the midst of great hardship; yet they are full of deep joy, because they love each other, they help each other and, especially, they are certain that God, who made himself present in the little Jesus, is at work in their story."

– Father Aaron Williams