Open to Jesus Through Mary
Saint Pope John Paul II
On Saturday, January 1, 2000, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, and the World Day of Peace, the Holy Father opened the Holy Doer and presided at a Eucharistic Celebration in the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Here is an excerpt of the homily, which was given in Italian.
Open to Jesus Through Mary
On this most important day, I have had the joy of opening the Holy Door in this venerable Liberian Basilica, the first one in the West to be dedicated to the Virgin Mother of Christ.
A week after the solemn rite held in St. Peter’s Basilica, today it is as though the ecclesial communities of every nation and continent were gathering here in spirit, under the Mother’s gaze, to cross the threshold of the Holy Door which is Christ.
It is in fact to her, the Mother of Christ and of the Church, that we wish to entrust the Holy Year just begun, to protect and encourage the journey of all who become pilgrims in this time of grace and mercy (cf. Incarnationis Mysterium, n. 18).
Pondering Them In Her Heart
The liturgy of today’s solemnity has a profoundly Marian character, though this is rather soberly expressed in the biblical texts. The passage from the Evangelist Luke summarizes, as it were, was heard on Christmas night. It says that the shepherds went to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger. After seeing him, they recounted what they had been told of him. And all were amazed at the shepherds’ tale. But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
It is worth reflecting on this sentence which expresses a wonderful aspect of Mary’s Motherhood. In a certain sense, the whole liturgical year follows in the footsteps of this mother-hood, beginning with the feast of the Annunciation on March 25th, exactly nine months before Christmas. On the day of the Annunciation, Mary heard the Angel’s words: “Behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.” (Lk. 1:31-33, 35.) And she answered: “Let it be to me according to your word” (ibid. 1:38).
Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit. Like every mother, in her womb she carried that Son, whom she alone knew to be the Only-begotten Son of God. She gave birth to him in the night of Bethlehem. Thus began the earthly life of the Son of God and his mission of salvation in the world’s history.
Mary conceived through the Holy Spirit. Like every mother, in her womb she carried that Son, whom she alone knew to be the Only-begotten Son of God. She gave birth to him in the night of Bethlehem. Thus began the earthly life of the Son of God and his mission of salvation in the world’s history.
“Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
Return to The Queen: Articles
Marveling With the Mother of God
“Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
How can we marvel that the Mother of God should remember all this in a special and indeed unique way? Every mother has a similar knowledge of the beginning of a new life within her. Every person’s history is written first of all in his own other’s heart. It is no wonder that the same was true for the earthly life of the Son of God.
“Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.”
Today, the first day of the new year, on the threshold of a new year, of this new millennium, the Church returns to this inner experience of the Mother of God. She does so not only by thinking back to the events of Bethlehem, Nazareth and Jerusalem, to the various stages, that is, of the Redeemer’s earthly life, but also by considering all that His Life, Death and Resurrection have brought about in human history.
In Accompany With Mary
Mary was present with the Apostles on the day of Pentecost; She participated directly in the birth of the Church. Since then her motherhood accompanies the history of redeemed humanity, the journey of the great human family for whom the work of Redemption intended.
At the beginning of the year 2000, as we move into the Jubilee season, we trust in your motherly “memory,” O Mary! We set on this special path of salvation history, which is kept alive in your heart as Mother of God. To you we entrust the days of the new year, the future of the Church, the future of humanity, the future of the entire universe.
Mary, Mother of God, Queen of Peace, watch over us.
Mary, Salus Popule Romani, Pray for us. Amen.
O.R. 1/5/2000 John Paul II
