On the Solemnity of Mary Mother of God, the Pope presides over the Mass in the Vatican Basilica and, at the beginning of the new year, encourages people to live “free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and dispensers of forgiveness”, open to the spirit of brotherhood “without calculations and without fear”. And, as the end of the Jubilee of Hope approaches, the invitation is to approach the nativity scene, “in faith, as the place of disarmed and disarming peace par excellence”
Antonella Palermo – Vatican City
“In the joy of the Octave of Holy Christmas we venerate Mary Most Holy Mother of God, who gave the world the Prince of Peace, the one who reconciles us in her love”
Since the Penitential Act of the Mass presided over by the Pope in St. Peter’s Basilica, there is peace in the field, so precious and so fragile, a gift received but to be constantly asked for, since it is constantly put at risk by the desires of man. On the 59th World Day of Peace which is celebrated today, 1 January, the liturgy becomes a song of praise for the “fruitful virginity” thanks to which God wanted to give men, as the prayer of the collection at the beginning of the celebration says, the goods of eternal salvation. It is that paradox highlighted last night at First Vespers.
READ THE FULL TEXT OF POPE LEO XIV’S HOMILY HERE
A new year, a new life
In the homily, commenting on the biblical readings, the Pontiff recalls, in front of 5,500 faithful present in the basilica and the whole Church, the “beautiful blessing” of the Lord expressed in the Book of Numbers and highlights the relationship between God and the people of Israel, the “sacred and fruitful dimension of the gift”, the promise of a land in which to live and grow “no longer shackles and chains: in short, a rebirth”.
Pope Leo (@Vatican Media)
At the beginning of the new year, the Liturgy reminds us that every day can be, for each of us, the beginning of a new life, thanks to God’s generous love, his mercy and the response of our freedom. And it is beautiful to think of the year that begins in this way: as an open path, to be discovered, in which we can venture, by grace, free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and dispensers of forgiveness, confident in the closeness and goodness of the Lord who always accompanies us.
Feeling God’s paternal embrace
Citing the Joy and hope the Pope evokes the wonderful destiny promised by the Creator.
At the beginning of the year, as we set out towards the new and unique days that await us, we ask the Lord to feel at all times, around us and on us, the warmth of his paternal embrace and the light of his blessing gaze, to understand better and constantly have in mind who we are and towards what wonderful destiny we are proceeding. At the same time, however, let us also give him glory, with prayer, with the sanctity of life and by making ourselves a mirror of his goodness to each other.
Approximately 5,500 faithful participated in the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. (@Vatican Media)
The world cannot be saved by eliminating brothers
The Augustinian Pope recalls what the Father of the Church wrote in one of his sermons in which he spoke of the total gratuitousness of God’s love, a fundamental trait OF a disarmed and disarming love. Very timely words in a time, like the current one, undermined by blind and unscrupulous war projects. The swords of antiquity are the sophisticated weapons of today.
And this is to teach us that the world is not saved by sharpening swords, judging, oppressing, or eliminating brothers, but rather by tirelessly striving to understand, forgive, free and welcome everyone, without calculations and without fear.
Mary, the encounter between her “disarmed” reality and that of God
Leone outlines the beauty of Mary, a “humble disciple” who accompanied Jesus’ mission to the cross. And he did it with an attitude of healthy surrender and passivity which becomes docility of the heart where love can reach and transform completely. The Pope explains it:
She lowered every defense, renouncing expectations, claims and guarantees, as mothers know how to do, consecrating her life without reservations to the Son whom she had received by grace, so that she in turn could give him back to the world. In the Divine Maternity of Mary we thus see the meeting of two immense “disarmed” realities: that of God who renounces every privilege of his divinity to be born according to the flesh (see Fil 2,6-11) and that of the person who confidently fully embraces his will, paying homage, in a perfect act of love, to his greatest power: freedom.
“The Nativity scene is the place of disarmed and disarming peace par excellence, the place of blessing”, said Pope Leo XIV in his homily. (@Vatican Media)
Look at the Nativity scene
The “face”, one of the words that recur most in today’s homily. Because faith in Jesus Christ is contemplating God made flesh. The Successor of Peter suggests immersing oneself in that Nativity. The invitation follows an extensive quote from Saint John Paul II that the Pope makes his own. They were the words pronounced at the end of the Jubilee of 2000, when he spoke of the great gift of forgiveness received and given, in memory of the martyrs. This joy that arises from it must spur a “courageous availability” to set out again on the journey of each day. This is how the Pope concludes today:
In this solemn celebration, at the beginning of the new year, near the conclusion of the Jubilee of Hope, let us approach the Nativity Scene, in faith, as the place of “disarmed and disarming” peace par excellence, a place of blessing, in which we remember the wonders that the Lord has performed in the history of salvation and in our existence, and then set out again, like the humble witnesses of the cave, “glorifying and praising God” (Lk 2.20) for everything we have seen and heard. May this be our commitment, our resolution for the months to come, and always for our Christian life.
Today, January 1, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Mary Most Holy Mother of God. (@VATICAN MEDIA)
Universal prayer with the invocation for peace
In the introduction to the intentions of the Universal Prayer, the “heirs of the Kingdom in which the fullness of peace shines” are mentioned. And the plea to obtain peace is made explicit once again by the assembly: “May the God of peace remove from every people the horror of war, silence the noise of weapons, grant harmony and concord to the whole world”. Our thoughts go in particular to the rulers so that they may be inspired by God with intentions of “justice and peace”. May they be oriented, it is the prayer of the Church, towards “works and gestures of brotherhood” with “concrete actions for the protection and care of creation”.
The offertory gifts, brought by the star singers who in German-speaking countries raise funds for missionary children, see two families with three and four children parade towards the altar. There are also three young people, two girls and a boy, wearing the clothes of the Magi, in the procession. Yes, young people, the future. Young people thirsty for peace and hope. That hope symbolized by the wooden effigy, coming from the parish of San Marco in Castellabate (SA) and positioned for the closing days of the Jubilee next to the altar of the Confession in St. Peter’s, where, at the end of the Eucharistic celebration, the Bishop of Rome stops for a few moments for a tribute and a further intimate trust.
