At 5:00pm local time today (11:00am EST) inside the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father, Pope Francis presided over the celebration of the first Vespers for the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God, which was followed by a period of exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, the traditional chanting of the Te Deum to mark the conclusion of the calendar year and the Eucharistic blessing.
At the end of the year, the Word of God accompanies us with these two verses from the Apostle Paul (cf Gal 4:4-5). These are concise and dense expressions: a synthesis of the New Testament that gives meaning to a critical moment such as the passing of a year always is.
The first expression that strikes us is the fullness of time. It assumes a particular resonance in these final hours of a solar year, in which even more we feel the need for something that makes sense of the passage of time. Something or, better, someone. And this someone came, God sent him: he is his Son, Jesus. We have recently celebrated his birth: he was born of a woman, the Virgin Mary; He was born under the Law, a Jewish child, subject to the Law of the Lord. How is it possible? How can this be the sign of the fullness of time? Of course, for the moment it is almost invisible and insignificant, but within a little more than thirty years, that Jesus would unleash an unprecedented force, which lasts and which will last throughout history: the power of Love. It is love that gives fullness to everything, even to time; and Jesus is the concentrate of all the love of God in a human being.
Saint Paul clearly explains why the Son of God was born in time, the mission that the Father gave him to do: he was born to redeem. This is the second word that strikes us: to redeem, that is, to get out of a condition of slavery and return to the freedom and dignity of children. The slavery that the apostle has in mind is that of the Law, understood as a set of precepts to be observed, a law that certainly educates mankind, a law that is pedagogical, but does not free him from his condition as a sinner, as if to say nail him to this condition, preventing him from reaching the freedom meant for a son.
God has sent his Only Son into the world to uproot the ancient slavery of sin from the heart of man and thus to restore his dignity. In fact, it is from the human heart - as Jesus teaches in the Gospel (cf Mk 7: 21-23) - that all evil intentions, the iniquities that corrupt life and relationships come out.
And here we must stop, stop and reflect with pain and repentance because, even during this year that draws to a close, so many men and women have lived and still live in conditions of slavery, unworthy of human beings.
Even in our city of Rome there are brothers and sisters who, for various reasons, are in this state. I think, in particular, of those who are living without a home. They are more than ten thousand. In winter their situation is particularly harsh. They are all sons and daughters of God, but different forms of slavery, sometimes very complex, have led them to live on the edge of human dignity. Even Jesus was born in a similar condition, but not by chance, or by an accident: he wanted to be born this way, in order to manifest the love of God for the little ones and the poor, and thus to throw into the world the seed of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of justice, love and peace, where no one is a slave, but all are brothers, sons of the one Father.
The Church in Rome does not want to be indifferent to the slavery of our time, nor simply to observe and assist them, but wants to be within this reality, close to these people and these situations. Proximity, maternal.
I like to encourage this form of the motherhood of the Church as we celebrate the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary. Contemplating this mystery, we recognize that God is born of a woman so that we could receive the fullness of our humanity, adoption as children. From its lowering we have been relieved. Our greatness has come from his smallness. From his fragility, our strength. From his becoming a servant, our freedom.
What name can be given to all this if not the name of Love? The Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to which on this night, our holy mother the Church throughout the world raises her hymn of praise and thanksgiving.
(Original text in Italian)
Homily of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
during the first Vespers of the Solemnity
of Mary, the Mother of God
At the end of the year, the Word of God accompanies us with these two verses from the Apostle Paul (cf Gal 4:4-5). These are concise and dense expressions: a synthesis of the New Testament that gives meaning to a critical moment such as the passing of a year always is.
The first expression that strikes us is the fullness of time. It assumes a particular resonance in these final hours of a solar year, in which even more we feel the need for something that makes sense of the passage of time. Something or, better, someone. And this someone came, God sent him: he is his Son, Jesus. We have recently celebrated his birth: he was born of a woman, the Virgin Mary; He was born under the Law, a Jewish child, subject to the Law of the Lord. How is it possible? How can this be the sign of the fullness of time? Of course, for the moment it is almost invisible and insignificant, but within a little more than thirty years, that Jesus would unleash an unprecedented force, which lasts and which will last throughout history: the power of Love. It is love that gives fullness to everything, even to time; and Jesus is the concentrate of all the love of God in a human being.
Saint Paul clearly explains why the Son of God was born in time, the mission that the Father gave him to do: he was born to redeem. This is the second word that strikes us: to redeem, that is, to get out of a condition of slavery and return to the freedom and dignity of children. The slavery that the apostle has in mind is that of the Law, understood as a set of precepts to be observed, a law that certainly educates mankind, a law that is pedagogical, but does not free him from his condition as a sinner, as if to say nail him to this condition, preventing him from reaching the freedom meant for a son.
God has sent his Only Son into the world to uproot the ancient slavery of sin from the heart of man and thus to restore his dignity. In fact, it is from the human heart - as Jesus teaches in the Gospel (cf Mk 7: 21-23) - that all evil intentions, the iniquities that corrupt life and relationships come out.
And here we must stop, stop and reflect with pain and repentance because, even during this year that draws to a close, so many men and women have lived and still live in conditions of slavery, unworthy of human beings.
Even in our city of Rome there are brothers and sisters who, for various reasons, are in this state. I think, in particular, of those who are living without a home. They are more than ten thousand. In winter their situation is particularly harsh. They are all sons and daughters of God, but different forms of slavery, sometimes very complex, have led them to live on the edge of human dignity. Even Jesus was born in a similar condition, but not by chance, or by an accident: he wanted to be born this way, in order to manifest the love of God for the little ones and the poor, and thus to throw into the world the seed of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom of justice, love and peace, where no one is a slave, but all are brothers, sons of the one Father.
The Church in Rome does not want to be indifferent to the slavery of our time, nor simply to observe and assist them, but wants to be within this reality, close to these people and these situations. Proximity, maternal.
I like to encourage this form of the motherhood of the Church as we celebrate the divine motherhood of the Virgin Mary. Contemplating this mystery, we recognize that God is born of a woman so that we could receive the fullness of our humanity, adoption as children. From its lowering we have been relieved. Our greatness has come from his smallness. From his fragility, our strength. From his becoming a servant, our freedom.
What name can be given to all this if not the name of Love? The Love of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, to which on this night, our holy mother the Church throughout the world raises her hymn of praise and thanksgiving.
(Original text in Italian)
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