Pope: Mary is the key to hope and peace
On the first day of the year, World Day of Peace, Francis entrusted to the Mother of God “sons and daughters who are suffering and no longer have the strength to pray, and for our many brothers and sisters throughout the world who are victims of war”. At the Angelus, he made an appeal: “No to rearmament! May resources go toward development, health, food, education, employment.” He entrusted Benedict XVI, "faithful servant of the Gospel", to Mary’s intercession.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis this morning celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, in St Peter's Basilica, on the first day of 2023, which for the Church is also World Day of Peace.
In his homily, the pontiff said, “At the beginning of this year, we need hope, just as the earth needs rain.” And “the key to hope is Mary and that the antiphon of hope is the invocation, Holy Mother of God.”
Francis noted how many books and great treatises have been written on the title of Mary Mother of God. “Yet these words have mostly entered the minds and hearts of the holy People of God through the simple and familiar prayer that accompanies the rhythm of our days, our moments of weariness and our greatest aspirations: the Hail Mary.”
He went on to urge the faithful to “pray to our Mother in a special way for her sons and daughters who are suffering and no longer have the strength to pray, and for our many brothers and sisters throughout the world who are victims of war, passing these holidays in darkness and cold, in poverty and fear, immersed in violence and indifference! For all those who have no peace, let us invoke Mary, the woman who brought into the world the Prince of peace (cf. Is 9:6; Gal 4:4).
“In her, the Queen of Peace, was fulfilled the blessing we heard in the first reading: ‘May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace’ (Num 6:26). At the hands of a Mother, God’s peace wants to enter into our homes, our hearts and our world.”
But how can we welcome this peace? Francis pointed to the example of the shepherds who "went with haste" to the cave in Bethlehem. “[I]f we are to welcome God and his peace, we cannot stand around complacently, waiting for things to get better. We need to get up, recognize the moments of grace, set out and take a risk. We need to take a risk
“This year, where do I want to go? Who is it that I can help? [. . .] Today, amid the lethargy that dulls our senses, the indifference that paralyzes our hearts, and the temptation to waste time glued to a keyboard in front of a computer screen, the shepherds are summoning us to set out and get involved in our world, to dirty our hands and to do some good. They are inviting us to set aside many of our routines and our comforts in order to open ourselves to the new things of God, which are found in the humility of service, in the courage of caring for others.”
The shepherds stopped to see the baby in the manger. But “How many times, in our busy lives, do we fail to stop, even for a moment, to be close to the Lord and to hear his word, to say a prayer, to adore and praise him.
“We do the same thing with others: caught up in our own affairs or in getting ahead, we have no time to listen to our wife, our husband, to talk with our children, to ask them about how they really are, and not simply about their studies or their health. And how good it is for us to take time and listen to the elderly, to our grandfathers and grandmothers, in order to remember the deeper meaning of our lives and to recover our roots. Let us ask ourselves too, whether we are capable of seeing the people next door, the people who live in the same building, the people we meet each day on the street.”
Addressing the faithful in St Peter's Square at noon for the Angelus prayer, Pope Francis again entrusted to Mary’s intercession Benedict XVI, "faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church" who died yesterday. Inspired by Our Lady's tenderness, he indicated "caring" for others as the way to peace.
“On this day that Saint Paul VI wished to dedicate to prayer and reflection for peace in the world, let us feel even more strongly intolerable the contrast of war, that in Ukraine and in other regions, is sowing death and destruction. Nevertheless, let us not lose hope because we have faith in God who in Jesus Christ has opened for us the way of peace.”
Indeed, “The experience of the pandemic,” Francis said in concluding, “has taught us that no one can save him or herself alone, but that together we can pursue the paths of peace and development. Throughout the entire world, from every people, the cry is rising: No to war! No to rearmament! May resources go toward development, health, food, education, employment.”
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