The Pope led the first Vespers of Mary, Most Holy Mother of God, as well as last year's Te Deum in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday afternoon. In this last ceremony of the year, the Bishop of Rome focused on two expressions that characterize the feelings of the Church at the end of the year: “gratitude” and “hope”. Expressions, he clarified, that she learns from the Virgin Mary.
Olivier Bonnel-Vatican City
In front of around 6,500 believers, Pope Francis presided over the last ceremony of the year in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday afternoon, that of the first vespers of Mary, the Most Holy Mother of God (The Solemnity of Mary is celebrated on January 1st, editorial). Note) as well as the traditional Te Deum to give thanks for the past year. At the beginning of his homily, the Pope explained that faith allows us to live “differently from the mentality of the world.” According to him, it manifests itself through two forms of expression: gratitude and hope.
The state of mind on this last day of the year is something almost universal, Francis reminded: “Everyone gives thanks, everyone hopes, whether we are believers or not,” but in reality he warned right at the beginning of his homily that gratitude and hope can become “worldly.” , “they lack the essential dimension, namely the relationship with the other and with others, with God and with our brothers.”
Praise, surprise, gratitude
“On the other hand, in this liturgy we breathe a completely different atmosphere,” he continued: that of praise, of surprise, of gratitude.” These feelings arise not because of the majesty of the basilica or its decorations, the songs or the lights, but because of Mystery that the antiphon of the first Psalm expresses thus: “Wonderful exchange! The Creator took a soul and a body, he was born of a virgin; […] he gives us his divinity.”
The pope urged the faithful to reflect on “what gratitude must have been in Mary’s heart when she looked at the newborn Jesus.” “It is an experience that only a mother can have and yet in her, in the Mother of God, it has a unique, incomparable depth. Mary, alone with Joseph, knows where this child comes from. And yet he is there, he is breathing, he is crying, he needs to eat, be covered, be protected. The mystery leaves room for gratitude, which emerges in the contemplation of the gift, in the gratuitousness, while it is smothered in the fear of having and appearing.
The icon of the “Breastfeeding Virgin” was placed in St. Peter’s Basilica this Sunday
In preparation for the anniversary
The Christian, like the Virgin Mary, is “a pilgrim of hope,” Francis continued, recalling that the theme of the Great Jubilee of 2025 is “Pilgrims of Hope.” The Holy Father developed a long reflection on how this anniversary should be lived in the Eternal City and what meaning the coming holy year should have: In addition to the organizational aspect of this event, the anniversary is above all a “witness of the church”. and civil society; a testimony that, more than in the events of the lifestyle, consists in the ethical and spiritual quality of the common life,” he explained.
Francis therefore asked whether everyone is committed to making Rome “a sign of hope for those who live there and for those who visit it,” mentioning in particular the importance of the city’s accessibility “for the elderly or those who are suffering “. from a motor disability.
A year of prayer
“A pilgrimage, especially when it is demanding, requires good preparation,” the pope said, explaining that the year 2024, which precedes the anniversary, will be dedicated to prayer. “And what better teacher could we have than our Blessed Mother?” he asked and called on the believers “to learn from her, to live every day, every moment, every activity with the inner gaze of Jesus.” All this with gratitude and Hope.
At the end of the ceremony, the Pope went to St. Peter's Square to pray in front of the Greccio nativity scene while the Pontifical Swiss Guard band played Christmas carols.