Bishop Paul&#039;s New Year Homily

January 3, 2022

Abu Dhabi.

Below is the full text of the homily delivered by Bishop Paul Hinder on the Solemnity of the Mother of God (New Year 2022).

We just listened to the blessing: “ May the Lord let his face shine on you and be gracious to you.” With these words, we wish that God may smile at us and show us his friendly and benevolent face. There is a beautiful paragraph in the Christmas speech of Pope Francis to the Vatican employees two years ago (21 December 2019) about the smiling face: “When we look at a newborn baby, we are led to smile at it, and if a smile blossoms on its small face, then we feel a simple, naive emotion. The child responds to our gaze, but his smile is much more “powerful”, because it is new, pure, like spring water, and in us adults it awakens an intimate nostalgia for childhood. - This happened in a unique way between Mary and Joseph and Jesus. The Virgin and her husband, with their love, made a smile blossom on the lips of their newborn child. But when this happened, their hearts were filled with a new joy, from Heaven. And the little stable in Bethlehem was illuminated. - Jesus is the smile of God. He came to reveal to us the love of our Heavenly Father, His goodness, and the first way He did so was to smile at His parents, like every newborn child in this world. And they, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, because of their great faith, were able to accept that message, they recognized in Jesus’ smile God’s mercy for them and for all those who were waiting for His coming, the coming of the Messiah, the Son of God, the King of Israel."

In Psalm 67 we pray: “May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known upon earth, your saving power among all nations” (Psalm 67:1-2). The Israelites were always concerned that God could hide his face, leaving thus the people abandoned and exposed to all kind of trials (Dt 31:18; Dt 32:20). Hence the psalmist prays from the bottom of his heart: “Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your mercy” (Psalm 31:17). The deep desire of the human being is that God’s face may be smiling at him.

When God smiled at Mary through the angel Gabriel, she replied with joy. On some ancient sculptures and paintings of the Annunciation, we see the Virgin Mary responding to the angel with a smile. She is delighted, full of grace. Her joy is echoed in the canticle of the Magnificat: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant” (Luke 1:47). The fruits of God’s grace are joy and bliss. The light of God appears on the face of the one who meets God. This is the reason why the face of Moses became radiant when he met God: “ The LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a person speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). And “ the skin of his face had become radiant while he spoke with the LORD” (Exodus 34:29). What we can see on the face of Our Lady is the reflex of God’s smiling face towards the entire humanity. Mary, the Mother of God, wants to share her joy, console us and make us happy. That’s why we pray to her: “Turn then, most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy towards us; and after this our exile, show to us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.”

In the gospel reading, we heard about the shepherds who “hurried away to Bethlehem” after having heard the message of the angel. Like Mary after the annunciation, the shepherds after meeting the angel are full of joy: “And the shepherds went back glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.” We too have the chance to meet the divine child in this Holy Mass. Now, we too can go back “glorifying and praising God for all” what we have heard and seen.

Dear brothers and sisters! We are beginning a new year. Many of us may look with increasing anxiety to the year ahead. The waves of pandemic coming and going, the permanent threat of wars, the uncertainties regarding the economic and consequently the job situation and so on can put us in a gloomy mood. However, we are called to witness to the world that we believe in God who is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps 103:8). The hatred and violence in the World may sometimes disturb our mind and our relationship with others. The more we let the face of God shine into our hearts, the more we can become and remain peace bearers and peacemakers. I finish with a tweet, Pope Francis wrote three years back (31 October 2018): “We need smiling Christians, not because they take things lightly, but because they are filled with the joy of God because they believe in love and live to serve.” Amen.