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Illustration: The Madonna del Rosario (c. 6th century or earlier), perhaps the oldest icon of Mary, in Rome
Pope Francis’ Homily at Vespers for the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
St. Peter’s Basilica – Sunday, 31 December 2023
Faith allows us to live this hour in a different way than a worldly mentality.
Faith in Jesus Christ, God incarnate, born of the Virgin Mary, gives a new way of feeling time and life.
I would sum it up in two words: gratitude and hope.
Gratitude
Someone might say, “But isn’t that what everyone is doing on this last night of the year?
Everyone gives thanks, everyone hopes, believers or non-believers.” Maybe it seems so, and maybe it was!
But, in reality, worldly gratitude, worldly hope are apparent; they lack the essential dimension, which is that of the relationship with God and with one’s brothers and sisters.
They are flattened on the self, on its interests, and so they are short of breath, they do not go beyond satisfaction and optimism.
In this liturgy, on the other hand, there is a completely different atmosphere: that of praise, amazement and gratitude. Not because of the majesty of the Basilica, not because of the lights and the songs – these things are rather the consequence of it. But because of the mystery that the antiphon in the first psalm expressed in this way: “Wonderful exchange! The Creator took a soul and a body, he was born of a virgin; […] He gives us his divinity.”; because of this wonderful exchange!
The liturgy makes us enter into the sentiments of the Church; and the Church, as it were, learns them from the Virgin Mother.
Think of the gratitude in Mary’s heart when she looked at the newborn Jesus.
It is an experience that only a mother can have, and yet in her, in the Mother of God, it has a unique, incomparable depth. Mary knows, she alone with Joseph, where this Child comes from.
And yet he is there, he breathes, he cries, he needs to be fed, he needs to be covered, to be cared for.
The mystery gives space to gratitude, which is born in the contemplation of the gift, in gratuitousness, while it suffocates in the anxiety of having and appearing.
The Church learns gratitude from the Virgin Mary. And she also learns hope.
Hope
One would think that God chose her, Mary of Nazareth, because in her heart she saw his own hope reflected. The one which he himself had infused into her with his Spirit. Mary has always been filled with love, filled with grace, and is therefore also filled with trust and hope.
That which is in Mary and in the Church is not optimism, it is something else: it is faith in God who is faithful to his promises; and this faith takes the form of hope in the dimension of time, we could say “on the way”. The Christian, like Mary, is a pilgrim of hope. And this will be the theme of the Jubilee of 2025: “Pilgrims of Hope”.
Dear brothers and sisters, we can ask ourselves: is Rome preparing to become a “city of hope” in the Holy Year? We all know that the organization of the Jubilee has been underway for some time. But we understand well that, in the perspective we are taking here, it is not primarily a matter of this; rather, it is a matter of the witness of the ecclesial and civil community. It is a witness that, more than in events, consists in the style of life, in the ethical and spiritual quality of living together. And so the question can be formulated as follows: are we working, each in one’s own sphere, to ensure that this city is a sign of hope for those who live here and for those who visit it?
An example. Entering St. Peter’s Square and seeing that, in the embrace of the Colonnade, people of all nationalities, culture and religions move freely and serenely, is an experience that instils hope; but it is important that it be confirmed by a good welcome in the visit to the Basilica, as well as in the information services.
Another example: the charm of the historic center of Rome is perennial and universal; but it must also be enjoyed by the elderly or those with some motor disability. And the ‘great beauty’ must be matched by simple decorum and normal functionality in the places and situations of ordinary, everyday life.
Because a city that is more livable for its citizens is also more welcoming for everyone.
Dear brothers and sisters, a pilgrimage, especially a demanding one, requires good preparation.
That is why the coming year, which precedes the Jubilee, is dedicated to prayer.
A whole year dedicated to prayer. And what better teacher could we have than our Holy Mother?
Let us put ourselves in her school: let us learn from her to live every day, every moment, every occupation with an inner gaze turned to Jesus. Joys and sorrows, satisfactions and problems.
All in the presence and with the grace of Jesus, the Lord. All with gratitude and hope.
