(Vatican News Network) Pope Francis presided over the Mass of the Mother of God in St. Peter’s Basilica on January 1, and 5,000 believers attended the ceremony. In his homily at Mass, the Pope reflected on the deep meaning of God’s incarnation and prayed for Benedict XVI, who had just passed away the day before. He said: “Today we entrust our beloved Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI to the Most Holy Mary, and ask the Virgin to accompany him on his journey from earth to God.”
The Pope began by speaking of those who have lived through the ordeal in conflict zones, who were unable to celebrate Christmas due to their difficult circumstances. Therefore, we call upon the Virgin Mary, the woman who “brought the Prince of Peace into the world” for “those who have no peace”. “We implore the Mother of God especially for those children who are suffering and who no longer have the power to pray, for the many brothers and sisters who have been hit by war in many parts of the world, who live in darkness and cold during these days of the feast,” said the Pope. , poverty and fear, into violence and apathy.”
Then, the Pope pointed out that God assumed humanity, and through the Virgin Mary “is forever bound up with our humanity, just like a child is with a mother”, so “our humanity is His humanity”. Christ became man “in a way united to every human being. He worked with human hands, thought with human reason, acted with human will, and loved God and man with a human heart. He was born of a virgin Mary, then he is truly one of us, and like us in everything except sin” (Constitution, No. 22).
“This is what God, born of Mary,” said the Pope, did: he manifested a concrete love for our humanity, a true and total acceptance. Brothers and sisters, God loves us not with words but with facts ; not ‘from above’, from afar, but ‘nearly’, from within our flesh, for through Mary the Word became flesh, for in the breast of Christ a flesh The heart goes on and on, beating for each of us!”
Through Mary, the Pope explained, “God’s peace wants to enter our doors, our hearts and our world“. To receive this peace, it is necessary to be like the shepherds of Bethlehem, the “poor, perhaps rather rough people” who were the first to recognize “the God who is present, who comes poor and loves the company of the poor”. They got up and went and were the first to see the Mother of God in her arms. So the pope invited everyone to “go and see”.
The first is to go, and go without hesitation, like the shepherds, who, as soon as they heard the angel’s announcement of the birth of Christ, set off in haste to see the “babe lying in the manger” (Lk ii:16). “In order to receive God and his peace,” the pope explained, “you must not stop and wait comfortably for things to improve. You need to get up, seize the moment of grace, move forward, take risks”. So let us act instead of just hoping that things will change, because in the Church and in society many people are waiting for the good that is available to everyone.
“The Shepherd inspires us today to go forth, to move for what is happening in the world, to get our hands dirty in doing good, to let go of many habits and comforts, and to open our hearts to God’s newness, which can be found in humble service and caring. Courage is found. Brothers and sisters, let us be like the shepherds: Rise up and go!”
Then there is seeing. The Pope emphasized that we should, like shepherds, “stand before the Holy Child in the bosom of the Virgin and say nothing”, but just stay there silently, worshiping and welcoming the comforting sight of God in flesh and blood with our eyes. gentle. “We have to take the time to see, that is, to open our eyes to what matters: to God and to other people. We have to have the courage to feel the surprise of encounter, which is God’s style, so different from the temptations of the world. The one that makes you relax. The surprise that God brings, the encounter, brings you peace; the other just numbs you and makes you relax”.
The Pope went on to say that we are often too busy to find time “to stop for a minute to be with the Lord, to listen to his Word, to pray, to adore and to give thanks”. People don’t have time to “listen to their wives or husbands, to communicate with their children,” to their elders or grandparents, to “see the depths of life and discover the roots.” Then, we need to imitate the shepherds and learn to see. So we ask ourselves if we can “see the people next to us, the people who live in the same building, the people we meet on the road every day.” We need to learn to “understand with our heart” and learn to see.
The Pope concluded: “Today the Lord has come among us, the Mother of God has placed Him before our eyes, and we must rediscover, in the impetus to go and the surprise of seeing, the secret that makes this year truly a new year. , overcome the weariness of lingering or the false peace of seduction.”
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