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)