"The Gospel shows us Mary's courage," Pope saysPope Francis made his last public address of 2023 during the celebration of the Vespers of the Solemnity of St. Mary, Mother of God. The Holy Father noted that Christians can live the end of a year with "hope and gratitude", thanks to "faith in Jesus Christ".
The Pope explained that worldly hope and gratitude are different from those of the Christian. The former "lack the essential dimension which is the relationship with the Other and with others, with God and with our brothers and sisters".
In order not to live these virtues in a humanistic way alone, Francis explained that the Church has to learn from the Virgin Mary. She "has always been full of love, full of grace, and for this reason she is also full of trust and hope".
Saint Mary and the Christian's hope
The Holy Father explained that this way of living is not optimism, but something else. "It is faith in God who is faithful to his promises. This faith takes the form of hope in the dimension of time." In short, it implies that "the Christian, like Mary, is a pilgrim of hope." Precisely for this reason, the theme of the Jubilee of 2025 will be "Pilgrims of Hope".
To prepare for the Jubilee, Francis proposed dedicating 2024 to prayer. He pointed to St. Mary as the best teacher to "live every day, every moment, every occupation with our inner gaze turned towards Jesus."
The Pope continued to deepen the figure of Our Lady during the Mass on January 1. During the homily he stressed that "at the beginning of the time of salvation is the Holy Mother of God, our holy Mother".
Francis underscored the title "Mother of God," because it expresses "the joyful certainty that the Lord, tender Child in his mother's arms, has united himself forever to our humanity, to the point that it is no longer ours alone, but also his." This, the Pope said, is not only a dogma of faith, "it is also a 'dogma of hope'; God in man and man in God, forever."
Mother's Creativity
The Holy Father took this opportunity to vindicate the role of women in the Church, which "needs Mary to rediscover its own feminine face". But not only the Church, "the world also needs to look to mothers and women to find peace". Francis said that "every society needs to welcome the gift of women, of every woman: to respect her, to care for her, to value her, knowing that whoever hurts a woman profanes God, born of woman".
The Pontiff ended his homily by asking us to "look to Mary to be builders of unity" and to learn from her "creativity as a Mother, who cares for her children, gathers them together and consoles them, listens to their sorrows and wipes away their tears".
The Pope also dedicated the Angelus January 1 to the Virgin Mary. However, during his reflection he noted "the silence of the Mother", a "beautiful trait". Thanks to "her silence and humility, Mary is the first 'cathedral' of God, the place where He and man can meet".
Wishes for 2024
At the end of the meditation, the Holy Father prayed that "at the beginning of the new year let us look to Mary and, with a grateful heart, let us also think and look to mothers, to learn that love that is cultivated above all in silence, that knows how to give space to others, respecting their dignity, leaving them free to express themselves, rejecting every form of possession, oppression and violence."
Finally, Pope Francis expressed his wish for 2024: that "we may grow in this meek, silent and discreet love that generates life, and open paths of peace and reconciliation in the world."
