VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In the hectic days before Christmas as people get ready for the holidays, may no one forget to prepare internally for the coming of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI said.

He asked that people dedicate the same kind of energy and care they pour into making their homes and neighborhoods more beautiful for the holidays into preparing their hearts for meeting Christ and making their lives pure and holy.

With just a few days left before Christmas, the pope dedicated his weekly general audience to the importance of the mystery of Christ’s birth and the tradition of the Nativity scene.

He told about 3,000 pilgrims gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI audience hall Dec. 22 to not be caught unprepared, “busy only with making things on the outside more beautiful.”

“Let’s purify our consciences and our lives from that which is contrary to this coming,” he said.