Prayerful Contemplation. Solemnity of St. Mary, Mother of God (A)Pope Francis celebrated Holy Mass today for the Solemnity of Mary Most Holy Mother of God. St. Peter's Basilica was filled with the faithful, whom the Holy Father addressed during his homily.
The Pope began by emphasizing that Mary's motherhood is a truth of faith, but at the same time it is "a most beautiful piece of news: God has a Mother and in this way he has linked himself forever with our humanity, like a son with his mother, to the point that our humanity is his humanity". Francis affirms that in being born of Mary, God "showed his concrete love for our humanity, embracing it in a real and full way."
Being born of the Virgin Mary, the Pope continued, God shows us that "he does not love us in words, but in deeds".
Mary, bearer of hope
The title of "Mother of God" that Holy Mary has, penetrated "the heart of the holy People of God, in the most familiar and homely prayer, which accompanies the rhythm of the days, the most painful moments and the most audacious hopes: the Hail Mary".
The Pope affirms that "to this invocation, the Mother of God always responds, she listens to our petitions, she blesses us with her Son in her arms, she brings us the tenderness of God made flesh. She gives us, in a word, hope. And we, at the beginning of this year, need hope, as the earth needs rain".
Francis wanted to ask for a special prayer, with Our Lady as intercessor, for all those who suffer the consequences of war, for those who no longer pray, for those who live in the midst of violence and indifference.
Pastors, examples for today's Christians
"Through the hands of a Mother, the peace of God wants to enter our homes, our hearts, our world. But how can we welcome her?" Pope Francis gives the keys and begins by looking at "those who first saw the Mother with the Child, the shepherds of Bethlehem."
The Pope says of them that "they were poor, perhaps also rather rude, and that
night they were working. It was precisely they, and not the wise, much less the powerful, who first recognized the God who was close to them, the God who came poor and who loves to be with the poor. The Gospel underlines two very simple gestures of the shepherds, which, however, are not always easy. The shepherds went and saw: go and see".
Of this first attitude of setting out to "go", the Pope says: "It was night, they had to tend their flocks and they were surely tired; they could have waited for daybreak, waited for the sun to rise to go and see a Child lying in a manger. Instead, they went quickly, because important things need to be reacted to promptly, not postponed".
This, Francis affirms, teaches us that "to welcome God and his peace we cannot remain immobile and comfortable waiting for things to get better. We have to get up, take advantage of the opportunities that grace gives us, go, take risks. Today, at the beginning of the year, instead of sitting down to think and wait for things to change, it would be good for us to ask ourselves: "Where do I want to go this year? Who am I going to do good for? Many, in the Church and in society, are waiting for the good that you and only you can do, they are waiting for your service. And before the laziness that anesthetizes and the indifference that paralyzes, before the risk of limiting ourselves to sit in front of a screen, with our hands on a keyboard, the pastors today encourage us to go, to be moved by what is happening in the world, to get our hands dirty to do good, to give up so many habits and comforts to open ourselves to the novelties of God, which are found in the humility of service, in the courage to take charge".
The second aspect of the shepherds that the Pope highlights was that they saw a Child in a manger. "It is important to see, to embrace with the gaze, to remain, like the shepherds, in front of the Child who is in the arms of the Mother. Without saying anything, without asking anything, without doing anything. To look in silence, to adore, to welcome with our eyes the consoling tenderness of God made man; of Mary, his Mother and ours. At the beginning of the year, among so many novelties we would like to experience and so many things we would like to do, let us take time to see, that is, to open our eyes and keep them open to what is truly important: God and others.
The look, the challenge for the new year
This contemplation of the Child should also lead us to our neighbor. We must ask ourselves, concludes the Pope, "how many times, because of our haste, we do not even have time to spend a minute in the company of the Lord, to listen to his Word, to pray, to adore, to praise. The same thing happens with regard to others: in a hurry or caught up in the limelight, there is no time to listen to the wife, the husband, to talk to the children, to ask them how they are feeling inside, not only how their studies and health are going. And how much good it does us to listen to the elderly, to grandfather and grandmother, to look at the depth of life and rediscover the roots. Let us ask ourselves then if we are able to see those who live next to us, those who live in our condominium, those we meet every day in the streets".
Francis ends his homily with an invitation: "Let us rediscover, in the impulse to go and in the amazement of seeing, the secrets to make this year truly new".
