Pope Francis recites his first New Year’s Angelus, focusing on the importance of trusting in Mary’s motherly gaze, through which anything is possible.
By the Vatican News staff writer
Pope Francis opened his first Angelus of the New Year, instantly urging the faithful to join us in “putting ourselves under the maternal and loving gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary.” The Pope explained that the liturgy of the day celebrates Mary “as Our Lady.”
Pope Francis explained that along our journey through the paths of time, “the reassuring and comforting gaze of the Blessed Virgin Mary” is a stimulus as we entrust our anguish and torment to her, “who can do all the things “. Mary looks at us with the same maternal tenderness with which she looked at her son Jesus, and that look is “a spirit,” she said. This look ensures that this time “that the Lord has given us” can be dedicated “for our human and spiritual growth,” the Pope continued; a time “to plan hatred and divisions”; “Feeling we are all more brothers and sisters”; “Build and not destroy” and “take care of each other and of creation.”
World Peace Day
The Pope went on to point out the theme of this year’s Word of Peace Day: The culture of care as a path to peace ‘. This theme, the Pope continued, “is devoted to the care of others and to creation.”
Pope Francis went on to point out that “the painful events that have marked the path of humanity in the last year, especially the pandemic, teach us how necessary it is to take an interest in the problems of others and share their concerns.” This attitude, he continued, “represents the path that leads to peace.” He explained that it is an attitude that “favors the construction of a society based on brotherhood relations.”
“Each one of us, the men and women of our time, is called to make peace a reality every day and in all areas of life, extending his hand to a brother or sister who needs a word of consolation, a gesture of tenderness, a hand of solidarity ”, said the Pope.
Peace that comes from within
“Peace can be built if we begin to be at peace with ourselves and those around us,” he continued, explaining that this means “removing obstacles that prevent us from attending to those in need and poverty.” What is needed, the Pope stressed, is to develop a mentality and a culture of care, “to overcome the indifference, discord and rivalry that unfortunately prevail.”
“Peace is not only the absence of war, but a life rich in meanings, planned and lived in personal fulfillment and in fraternal sharing with others. Then, that peace so desired and always threatened by violence, selfishness and evil, becomes possible and achievable “, He said.
“To families, to work, to nations: peace. Peace. And now that we think that life today is resolved by wars, by enmities, by so many things that destroy … we want peace. And that is a present”.
At the end of his reflection on the New Year’s Angelus, Pope Francis prayed that Our Lady “obtain from heaven the precious good of peace” and expressed her hope that “peace will reign in the heart and to people’s families, in jobs and leisure, in communities and nations ”.
Finally, the Pope wished all the faithful and everyone around the world “a happy and peaceful 2021: a year full of hopes and confident hopes.”