VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE   
   YEAR XXII - # 001   
   DATE 02-01-2015   
      
   Summary:   
   - Angelus: prayer lets peace germinate   
   - Jesus cannot be understood without His mother   
   - New Year's Eve Vespers: "Give thanks and ask forgiveness"   
   - Other Pontifical Acts   
      
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    Angelus: prayer lets peace germinate   
    Vatican City, 2 January 2014 (VIS) - Following the celebration of Holy Mass   
   on the Solemnity of Holy Mary, Mother of God, and on the 48th World Day of   
   Peace, Pope Francis appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican   
   Apostolic Palace to pray the Angelus with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's   
   Square. Before the Marian prayer, the Pontiff gave a short address.   
    "On this first day of the year, in the joyful atmosphere of Christmas, the   
   Church invites us to fix our gaze of faith and of love on the Mother of Jesus.   
   ... It is impossible to separate contemplation of Jesus, the Word of life Who   
   is made visible and tangible, from contemplation of Mary, who has given Him   
   her love and her human flesh. At the beginning of a new year, it is good to   
   remember the day of our Baptism: we rediscover the gift received in that   
   Sacrament which has regenerated us to new life, the divine life. And this is   
   through the Mother Church, which has as its model the Mother Mary. Thanks to   
   our Baptism we have been introduced to communion with God and are no longer at   
   the mercy of evil and sin, but instead receive the love, tenderness, and mercy   
   of the heavenly Father".   
    "This closeness of God to our existence gives us true peace, the divine gift   
   we especially wish to implore today, World Day of Peace. ... Peace is always   
   possible and our prayer is at the root of peace. Prayer enables peace to   
   germinate. Today, World Day of Peace, 'Slaves no more, but brothers and   
   sisters': this is the message of this Day. Because wars make slaves of us,   
   always. It is a message that affects all of us. We are all required to fight   
   against every form of slavery and to build fraternity. All of us - each person   
   according to his or her own responsibility".   
    Pope Francis urged those present to pray to Mary, Mother of God and Our   
   Mother, to present her our good intentions and to ask her to extend the mantle   
   of her maternal protection over us, every day of the new year. Following the   
   Marian prayer, the Pope greeted the faithful in the square and wished them a   
   happy new year. Shortly after the tolling of the "Maria Dolens" bell in   
   Trentino, made in honour of the fallen in all the wars and blessed by Pope   
   Paul VI in 1965, was heard by live connection. "May there never again be wars,   
   but always a desire for and commitment to peace and brotherhood among   
   peoples", he concluded.   
      
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    Jesus cannot be understood without His mother   
    Vatican City, 2 January 2014 (VIS) - This Thursday, Solemnity of Mary, Mother   
   of God and the Octave of Christmas, the Holy Father celebrated Mass in the   
   Vatican Basilica. Today is also the 48th World Day of Peace, which takes as   
   its theme "Slaves no more, but brothers and sisters".   
    The full text of the homily pronounced by the Pope is given below:   
    "Today we are reminded of the words of blessing which Elizabeth spoke to the   
   Virgin Mary: 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your   
   womb! And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to   
   me?'. This blessing is in continuity with the priestly blessing which God had   
   given to Moses to be passed on to Aaron and to all the people: 'The Lord bless   
   you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to   
   you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace'. In   
   celebrating the Solemnity of Mary the Most Holy Mother of God, the Church   
   reminds us that Mary, more than anyone else, received this blessing. In her   
   the blessing finds fulfilment, for no other creature has ever seen God's face   
   shine upon it as did Mary. She gave a human face to the eternal Word, so that   
   all of us can contemplate Him.   
    "In addition to contemplating God's face, we can also praise him and glorify   
   Him, like the shepherds who came away from Bethlehem with a song of   
   thanksgiving after seeing the Child and His young mother. The two were   
   together, just as they were together at Calvary, because Christ and His mother   
   are inseparable: there is a very close relationship between them, as there is   
   between every child and his or her mother. The flesh of Christ - which, as   
   Tertullian says, is the hinge of our salvation - was knit together in the womb   
   of Mary. This inseparability is also clear from the fact that Mary, chosen   
   beforehand to be the Mother of the Redeemer, shared intimately in His entire   
   mission, remaining at her Son's side to the end on Calvary.   
    "Mary is so closely united to Jesus because she received from Him the   
   knowledge of the heart, the knowledge of faith, nourished by her experience as   
   a mother and by her close relationship with her Son. The Blessed Virgin is the   
   woman of faith who made room for God in her heart and in her plans; she is the   
   believer capable of perceiving in the gift of her Son the coming of that   
   'fullness of time' in which God, by choosing the humble path of human   
   existence, entered personally into the history of salvation. That is why Jesus   
   cannot be understood without His Mother.   
    "Likewise inseparable are Christ and the Church; the salvation accomplished   
   by Jesus cannot be understood without appreciating the motherhood of the   
   Church. To separate Jesus from the Church would introduce an 'absurd   
   dichotomy', as Blessed Paul VI wrote. It is not possible 'to love Christ but   
   without the Church, to listen to Christ but not the Church, to belong to   
   Christ but outside the Church'. For the Church is herself God's great family,   
   which brings Christ to us. Our faith is not an abstract doctrine or   
   philosophy, but a vital and full relationship with a person: Jesus Christ, the   
   only-begotten Son of God Who became man, was put to death, rose from the dead   
   to save us, and is now living in our midst. Where can we encounter Him? We   
   encounter Him in the Church. It is the Church which says today: 'Behold the   
   Lamb of God'; it is the Church which proclaims Him; it is in the Church that   
   Jesus continues to accomplish His acts of grace which are the sacraments.   
    "This, the Church's activity and mission, is an expression of her motherhood.   
   For she is like a mother who tenderly holds Jesus and gives Him to everyone   
   with joy and generosity. No manifestation of Christ, even the most mystical,   
   can ever be detached from the flesh and blood of the Church, from the   
   historical concreteness of the Body of Christ. Without the Church, Jesus   
   Christ ends up as an idea, a moral teaching, a feeling. Without the Church,   
   our relationship with Christ would be at the mercy of our imagination, our   
   interpretations, our moods.   
    "Dear brothers and sisters! Jesus Christ is the blessing for every man and   
   woman, and for all of humanity. The Church, in giving us Jesus, offers us the   
   fullness of the Lord's blessing. This is precisely the mission of the people   
   of God: to spread to all peoples God's blessing made flesh in Jesus Christ.   
   And Mary, the first and most perfect disciple of Jesus, the model of the   
   pilgrim Church, is the one who opens the way to the Church's motherhood and   
   constantly sustains her maternal mission to all mankind. Mary's tactful   
   maternal witness has accompanied the Church from the beginning. She, the   
   Mother of God, is also the Mother of the Church, and through the Church, the   
   mother of all men and women, and of every people.   
      
   --- MPost/386 v1.21   
    * Origin: Sursum Corda! BBS=Huntsville AL=bbs.sursum-corda.com (1:396/45)