Pope's Homily - Jan 1- on Mary

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Excerpts from Pope Francis’ Homily for today:

The year opens in the name of the Mother, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. Mother of God is the most important title of Our Lady…

…Let us now be guided by today’s Gospel. Only one thing is said about the Mother of God: “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Lk 2:19). She kept them. She simply kept; Mary does not speak. The Gospel does not report a single word of hers in the entire account of Christmas. Here too, the Mother is one with her Son: Jesus is an “infant”, a child “unable to speak”. The Word of God, who “long ago spoke in many and various ways” (Heb 1:1), now, in the “fullness of time” (Gal 4:4), is silent. The God before whom all fall silent is himself a speechless child. His Majesty is without words; His mystery of love is revealed in lowliness. This silence and lowliness is the language of his kingship. His Mother joins her Son and keeps these things in silence….

…We need to remain silent as we gaze upon the crib. Pondering the crib, we discover anew that we are loved; we savor the real meaning of life. As we look on in silence, we let Jesus speak to our heart. His lowliness lays low our pride; his poverty challenges our outward display; his tender love touches our hardened hearts…

…the Mother of God: silently treasuring all things and bringing them to God. And this took place, the Gospel concludes, in her heart. The heart makes us look to the core of the person, his or her affections, and life. At the beginning of the year, we too, as Christians on our pilgrim way, feel the need to set out anew from the center, to leave behind the burdens of the past and to start over from the things that really matter. Today, we have before us the point of departure: the Mother of God. For Mary is exactly what God wants us to be, what he wants his Church to be: a Mother who is tender and lowly, poor in material goods and rich in love, free of sin and united to Jesus, keeping God in our hearts and our neighbor in our lives. To set out anew, let us look to our Mother… to begin anew from the crib, from the Mother who holds God in her arms… Full text of the Pope’s homily can re read HERE

How beautiful it is to begin 2018 celebrating the Mother God gave to His Son and to us all!

 

[Mark121359]

From his homily;
Devotion to Mary is not spiritual etiquette; it is a requirement of the Christian life.

If only all Catholics felt this way MariaChristi…as I know from reading your many threads over the years, that you most certainly do!! God Bless You! And a most Blessed and Happy New Year!

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Mark,

Thanks so much for your reply. I do believe, Mark, that if anyone is serious about living a Christian life, that person needs to “see” by faith the miracles of the Immaculate Conception of Mary and the Virgin Birth of Christ. The Incarnation is the beginning of “new life” for every human soul.

Nevertheless, we need to remember the wise words of St. Therese of Lisieux: “Everything is Grace”. May Catholic Christians and non Catholic Christians not only “feel” the warmth of love for Mary, but open their hearts to receive God’s Grace to believe in the necessity of Mary in our lives if we are to live and remain in Jesus.

God chose to send His Son through Mary and He is consistent. He continues to send Him through her. Cardinal Sarah in his new book, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise, quotes St. John Of the Cross:

The Father spoke one Word, which was His Son, and this Word He always speaks in eternal silence, and in silence must It be heard by the soul.

Mary our Mother and Model teaches us how to hear and to ponder the Word made Flesh in her womb. May she intercede for all our brothers and sisters.