Homily of Pope Benedict XVI on Solemnity of Mary Mother of God

(January 01, 2011) On this New Year’s Day and the day of the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the Mass at St Peter’s Basilica, together with Cardinals, Bishops, Priests and the Faithful. In his homily the Holy Father greeted all for the New Year 2011 asking the Lord to bless the New Year just started, and that only God can touch the depths of the human soul and ensure hope and peace to mankind. The Pope said that still wrapped in the spiritual atmosphere of Christmas, in which we contemplated the mystery of Christ's birth, we celebrate today the same sentiments with the Virgin Mary, whom the Church venerates as Mother of God, as it gave the meat to the Son of the Father. Today with its well established tradition of praying for peace, the church raises its collective prayer for the victims of war, men and women, children and elderly. He added that we want to help every person, particularly those with responsibility of government, to walk in ever more decisive steps towards the establishment of peace.
In the second reading, Pope Benedict said, St. Paul sums up subsidiary in adopting the work of salvation accomplished by Christ, through the person of Mary. Thanks to her, the Son of God, in the fullness of time, born of woman could come into the world as a man in the Word made flesh to dwell among us. The Pope then reflected on today’s Gospel that ends with the naming of Jesus, while Mary takes part in silence, meditating in her heart of this mystery to his son, who is a unique gift of God. But the passage draws our attention to the Shepherds that they returned glorifying God and announcing the message to all they encountered. He said that the reading dedicated to the "Son", Jesus but this does not diminish the role of the Mother, or rather, places it in real perspective, namely, Mary is truly the Mother of God by the virtue of her total relationship to Christ. Therefore, by glorifying the Son we are glorifying the Mother. The title "Mother of God," which today's liturgy highlights, underlines the unique mission of the Holy Virgin in our salvation history: the mission that lies at the heart of the worship and devotion of the Christian people today. In fact, Mary did not receive the gift of God for himself alone, but by bringing Jesus into the world in her fruitful virginity. But through her God has given human beings the blessings of eternal salvation.
The Pontiff then spoke of the World Day of Peace that commenced from first of January 1968 on the feast of Mary, Mother of God and is faithfully celebrated every year. Peace is a gift of God, as we heard in the first reading, he said. It is the messianic gift par excellence, the first fruit of love that Jesus gave us, is our peace and reconciliation with God. In this solemn celebration, at the Forty-fourth World Day of Peace, the Pope said that he is pleased to extend his respectful greetings to the distinguished Ambassadors to the Holy See, with the best wishes for their mission.
Pope Benedict then reflected on his New Year Peace message with the theme: "Freedom of religion, path to peace". He said that the world needs God Needs ethical and spiritual values, universal and shared, and religion can make a valuable contribution in their quest to build a just international and social order and peace. He added that religious freedom is an essential element of a constitutional state; it cannot be denied without at the same time encroaching on all fundamental rights and freedoms, since it is their synthesis and keystone.
The Pope concluded his homily saying that the Virgin Mary gives us her Son, showing us the face of her Son, the Prince of Peace who is the light that shines upon us and helps us to discover the tenderness of God the Father who through the Holy Spirit renews the face of the earth and transform the hearts in the Child that is born for us. He said: “May the Mother of God remain with us in this new year, obtain for us and for the whole world the necessary gift of peace.”