Mary, Mother of God. World Day of Prayer for Peace

Abbeyfeale Parish, Limerick, 1 January, 2023

Homily Notes of Bishop Brendan Leahy

We cannot but think today of the Emeritus Pope Benedict who died yesterday morning. On this World Day of Prayer for Peace, we remember him as a man of peace and serenity. I met him a few times and he always came across as a humble, gentle soul, at peace in himself and gracious in his dealings with others. We know he was a great theologian and in his first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, he made a statement that struck many: “Being Christian is not the result of an ethical choice or a lofty idea, but the encounter with an event, a person, which gives life a new horizon and a decisive direction.” Yes, what mattered for him was the personal encounter in faith with Jesus. The Christian faith should never be reduced to a set of rules and obligations but rather to be lived as a personally fulfilling adventure of following Jesus, letting Jesus live in us.

In another encyclical letter, this time on hope, Spe Salvi, Pope Benedict referred to Mary and I’d like to quote what he said because today we are celebrating the Feast of Mary, Mother of God. He said: “In a hymn composed in the eighth or ninth century, and so for over a thousand years now, the Church has greeted Mary, the Mother of God, as “Star of the Sea”: Ave maris stella. Human life is a journey. Towards what destination? How do we find the way? Life is like a voyage on the sea of history, often dark and stormy, a voyage in which we watch for the stars that indicate the route. The true stars of our life are the people who have lived good lives. They are lights of hope. Certainly, Jesus Christ is the true light, the sun that has risen above all the shadows of history. But to reach him we also need lights close by—people who shine with his light and so guide us along our way. Who more than Mary could be a star of hope for us? With her “yes” she opened the door of our world to God himself; she became the living Ark of the Covenant, in whom God took flesh, became one of us, and pitched his tent among us (cf. Jn 1:14)…Holy Mary, Mother of God, our Mother, teach us to believe, to hope, to love with you. Show us the way to his Kingdom! Star of the Sea, shine upon us and guide us on our way!”

On this 1^st of January, as we begin a new year, we can take up Pope Benedict’s invitation to ask Mary to help us, to teach us. Indeed, he would be happy to see us entrusting our lives and our year ahead to her, just as he had entrusted his pontificate to her on the day he became Pope.

What will the new year ahead bring us? We don’t know yet, but one thing we know is that the world needs peace so much. We hear of the wars in Ukraine, Syria, Yemen, South Sudan but there are so many. There are some 27 wars going on in the world, so much so that Pope Francis often repeats that we are in the Third World War that is happening piecemeal. We also need to remember that peace is still fragile in Northern Ireland. And then, peace is a gift we all seek in our own personal lives, our family life, and in our neighbourhood, our workplace and wherever we are meeting others. The Christmas scene put before us in the crib and recounted in today’s Gospel speak of peace and serenity.

In his message for this World Day of Prayer for Peace this year, well worth reading and available on the Internet, Pope Francis invites us not to forget what we have learned from the Covid pandemic. He says, “the greatest lesson we learned from Covid-19 was the realization that we all need one another.” We had to pull together not only as individuals, families, but also as nations and organisations, to overcome the threat of the Covid 19. We always need to recognise how much we need each other.

But linked to this, Pope Francis encourages to take the word “together” as a key for the year ahead. It’s “together” that we can overcome problems and challenges. There are so many viruses in our world – of inequality, destruction of the planet, lack of solidarity. By working together, by helping each other, we can make a difference, locally, nationally and internationally.

All of this starts, however, with each of us undergoing a conversion of our heart. To realise we need each other and in order to work “together”, we need to turn away from all forms of selfishness, self-interest and focus instead on the common good. As Pope Francis writes, “Certainly, the virus of war is more difficult to overcome than the viruses (such as Covid) that compromise our bodies, because it comes, not from outside of us, but from within the human heart corrupted by sin (cf. Gospel of Mark 7:17-23).

The first reading reminds us that building peace, working together, being converted in our hearts, are all gifts that come from God. On this first day of the New Year, the Church, as it were, prays the beautiful blessing over us:

May the Lord bless you and keep you.
May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.
May the Lord uncover his face to you and bring you peace.

It was through the birth of Jesus, Mary’s child, as Paul underlines in the Second Reading, that the Lord blessed us and kept us, made his face to shine upon us and was gracious to us. It is only right we celebrate Mary Mother of God on this first day of the New Year. She brings us along the way of Peace. We pray too for Pope Benedict: Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May he rest in peace. Amen.