OMELIE / Omelie EN

26/6/2016

01/01/2017 – Mary, Mother of God

01/01/2017 – Mary, Mother of God

First day of the Year/ Day dedicated to peace

1st reading Num 6,22-27 * from Psalm 66 * 2^nd reading Gal 4,4-7 * Gospel Lk 2,16-21

“This is how you must bless the Israelites. You will say to them …”. How beautiful and consoling it is to hear God blessing his own people…also He does not want to bless them from the heaven so that men will not be conscious of it! Men must know that they are blessed by God and therefore they must hear with their own ears the words that fill them with consolation and beatitudes.

There will be therefore someone who will pronounce the words suggested by God, and these will be the priests, “Aaron and his sons”. The mystery of the incarnation starts already to be tasted and understood by mankind in this way. The words of God’s blessing are pronounced by men, these words come from their own hearts and bring with them the blow and the tone of human voice, but they are God’s words, even when it is necessary for Him to use sinners to spread them.

I state necessary, not because it is necessary for men to be sinners or disobedient to Lord for spreading his words, but because there are no men free from sins. God adapts himself to this situation. We are instead aware we have problems in adapting ourselves to this as we would expect someone serving our Lord to be like angels and if we see their sins we refuse to recognize the their ministry. Didn’t you even admit it is hard to confess your sins to a man? And why don’t you ever ask for a blessing to a priest? Do you also think he should not deserve to bless?

Today we start the new year with these God’s words of blessing pronounced by the people of Israel on their own brothers. And these words are getting into reality, truly carrying the blessing and not curse. In what does blessing consist? “May the Lord let his face shine for you and be gracious to you”: these are charming words but still full of mystery. The face of Lord is shining for me: what is the meaning? I can give different interpretations: I am enlightened from his light becoming myself His reflection, but also: whoever sees me, can also see Lord’s presence next to me and therefore knowing he is protecting and defending me. Blessing is not related to material well-being, as if it had to please the egoistic impulses always present in me. God does not treat me as a man belonging only to the earth, he treats me as a man destined to collaborate with Him for his kingdom of justice and peace. From the blessing infact comes peace: “May the Lord give you peace”. And the peace is Jesus!

Today we can understand all this if we get ourselves to consider and reflect on the gospel. The splendor, the grace and the peace of God are in the manger, treasured by Mary’s tender and Joseph’s arms. Grace and peace vibrate also in the voices of the shepherds to whom the child was presented and of which also the angels have announced. And infact who accepts the child as a gift of God finds in his heart, in all its own being, the peace, and starts to be at peace with everyone, with the whole world.

Today, 1^st January, is called The World Day of Peace. Do we have the courage to say that is Jesus our peace? Without Him in fact what we call peace is only a temporary agreement, which lasts until the next temptation of egoism or envy. Let’s start the year with the day of peace, that is, we start this new calendar with Jesus. We shall put Him at the beginning and at the center of every day, we shall let our hearts be enlightened by the light of His face day by day. In this way we will see the beginning of peace. Not the others, not those who govern or the kings of the earth must make peace: they are not able to do this. It is me and you who fix Jesus in the center of our lives and of our mutual relationships: this is making peace.

Mary becomes today a teacher for us. She is the Mother, we call her the Mother of God in order to reaffirm our faith in Jesus, one with the Father, Emmanuel, God with us. But how does the mother behaves? She lives in silence, she is not interested in being visible, to fill the space with her own words. She listens, observes and meditates. In her heart whatever regards Jesus is compared with the Scriptures: the words of the angel and the angels, Joseph’s dream, her sufferings and the shepherds’ joy. Her silence is rich of love which is impossible to express. Shall we learn her lesson? Let’s learn to live in silence, to let the facts of our life to be enlightened by the Word of God. We will feel Mary as our own Mother. We will be linked with her in a strong and interior way, so to enjoy her own joy! Rejoice, Mary, Mother of the Emmanuel, rejoice Mary, Mother of our God, rejoice Mary, source of true peace! Rejoice Mary, blessing of our people!