Pope Francis: Homily for First Vespers for Solemnity
of Mary the Mother of God
(Vatican Radio) On the final day of the civil year, Pope
Francis celebrated First Vespers for the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God in
St Peter’s Basilica. The ceremony also included the chanting of the hymn Te
Deum in thanksgiving for the blessings of the past year.
Below, please find the official English translation of
Pope Francis’ prepared homily for the liturgy:
First Vespers of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God,
and Te Deum in Thanksgiving for the Past Year
and Te Deum in Thanksgiving for the Past Year
Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis
Saint Peter’s Basilica
Saturday, 31 December 2016
Saturday, 31 December 2016
“When the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born
of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that
we might receive adoption as sons” (Gal 4:4-5).
These words of Saint Paul are powerful. In a brief and
concise way, they introduce God’s plan for us: he wants us to live as his sons
and daughters. The whole of salvation history echoes in these
words. He who was not subject to the law chose, out of love, to set aside
every privilege and to appear in the most unexpected place in order to free us
who were under the law. What is so surprising is that God accomplishes
this through the smallness and vulnerability of a newborn child. He
decides personally to draw near to us and in his flesh to embrace our flesh, in
his weakness to embrace our weakness, in his littleness to envelop our
littleness. In Christ, God did not put on a human mask; instead he became
man and shared completely in our human condition. Far from remaining an
idea or an abstract essence, he wanted to be close to all those who felt lost,
demeaned, hurt, discouraged, inconsolable and frightened. Close to all
those who in their bodies carry the burden of separation and loneliness, so
that sin, shame, hurt, despair and exclusion would not have the final word in
the lives of his sons and daughters.
The manger invites us to make this divine “logic” our
own. It is not a logic centred on privilege, exemptions or favours but
one of encounter and closeness. The manger invites us to break with the
logic of exceptions for some and exclusion for others. God himself comes
to shatter the chains of privilege that always cause exclusion, in order to
introduce the caress of compassion that brings inclusion, that makes the
dignity of each person shine forth, the dignity for which he or she was
created. A child in swaddling clothes shows us the power of God who
approaches us as a gift, an offering, a leaven and opportunity for creating a
culture of encounter.
We cannot allow ourselves to be naïve. We know that we
are tempted in various ways to adopt the logic of privilege that separates,
excludes and closes us off, while separating, excluding and closing off the
dreams and lives of so many of our brothers and sisters.
Today, before the little Child of Bethlehem, we should
acknowledge that we need the Lord to enlighten us, because all too often we end
up being narrow-minded or prisoners of all-or-nothing attitude that would force
others to conform to our own ideas. We need this light, which helps us
learn from our mistakes and failed attempts in order to improve and surpass
ourselves; this light born of the humble and courageous awareness of those who
find the strength, time and time again, to rise up and start anew.
As another year draws to an end, let us pause before the manger
and express our gratitude to God for all the signs of his generosity in our
life and our history, seen in countless ways through the witness of those
people who quietly took a risk. A gratitude that is no sterile nostalgia
or empty recollection of an idealized and disembodied past, but a living
memory, one that helps to generate personal and communal creativity because we
know that God is with us.
Let us pause before the manger to contemplate how God has
been present throughout this year and to remind ourselves that every age, every
moment is the bearer of graces and blessings. The manger challenges us
not to give up on anything or anyone. To look upon the manger means to
find the strength to take our place in history without complaining or being resentful,
without closing in on ourselves or seeking a means of escape, looking for
shortcuts in our own interest. Looking at the manger means recognizing
that the times ahead call for bold and hope-filled initiatives, as well as the
renunciation of vain self-promotion and endless concern with appearances.
Looking at the manger means seeing how God gets involved by
involving us, making us part of his work, inviting us to welcome the future
courageously and decisively.
Looking at the manger, we see Joseph and Mary, their young
faces full of hopes and aspirations, full of questions. Young faces that
look to the future conscious of the difficult task of helping the God-Child to
grow. We cannot speak of the future without reflecting on these young
faces and accepting the responsibility we have for our young; more than a
responsibility, the right word would be debt, yes, the debt we owe them.
To speak of a year’s end is to feel the need to reflect on how concerned we are
about the place of young people in our society.
We have created a culture that idolizes youth and seeks to
make it eternal. Yet at the same time, paradoxically, we have condemned
our young people to have no place in society, because we have slowly pushed
them to the margins of public life, forcing them to migrate or to beg for jobs
that no longer exist or fail to promise them a future. We have preferred
speculation over dignified and genuine work that can allow young people to take
active part in the life of society. We expect and demand that they be a
leaven for the future, but we discriminate against them and “condemn” them to
knock on doors that for the most part remain closed.
We are asked to be something other than the innkeeper in
Bethlehem who told the young couple: there is no room here. There was no
room for life, for the future. Each of us is asked to take some
responsibility, however small, for helping our young people to find, here in
their land, in their own country, real possibilities for building a
future. Let us not be deprived of the strength of their hands, their
minds, and their ability to prophesy the dreams of their ancestors (cf. Jl 2:28).
If we wish to secure a future worthy of them, we should do so by staking it on
true inclusion: one that provides work that is worthy, free, creative,
participatory and solidary (cf. Address at the Conferral of the
Charlemagne Prize, 6 May 2016).
Looking at the manger challenges us to help our young people
not to become disillusioned by our own immaturity, and to spur them on so that
they can be capable of dreaming and fighting for their dreams, capable of
growing and becoming fathers and mothers of our people.
As we come to the end of this year, we do well to
contemplate the God-Child! Doing so invites us to return to the sources
and roots of our faith. In Jesus, faith becomes hope; it becomes a leaven
and a blessing. “With a tenderness which never disappoints, but is always
capable of restoring our joy, Christ makes it possible for us to lift up our
heads and to start anew” (Evangelii Gaudium, 3)
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