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January 1, 2023Abu Dhabi.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Eight days have passed since the solemnity of Christmas. Christmas of course is a feast too big to be celebrated just one day. It takes at least eight days to comprehend this good news. From a social point of view, Christmas octave also falls at a particular moment when the old year ends, and a new one begins.
We now bid farewell to 2022 and welcome 2023. We thank the Lord for the good we have been able to do and have received in the past year, and we ask God to teach us how to live this new year well, in peace and doing his will.
Today (tonight) we want to thank God, especially for pope Emeritus Benedict who right on the last day of the year 2022 ended his earthly journey. His extraordinary teaching and his strong witness are for the Church an immense legacy to welcome and to deepen. May the Lord give him peace and joy in Heaven forever.
We heard in the first reading that God blesses his people. God gives the word of blessings to Aaron through Moses. The Lord blesses all the days of our lives. May this new year be blessed by the Lord. May it be a year of peace for our families, society, and the world.
Ending a year and starting a new one makes us think about the passing of time. Time is a mysterious word. St Augustine said that if we don't ask ourselves about time, we seem to know what it is. But when we stop and reflect on time, then all the difficulties arise.
In general, we have the impression that the past is no longer there, while the future is not yet. We only have the present, the instant, which we cannot hold back. Every moment passes fast, like a flowing river that cannot be stopped.
There is an apparently neutral way of viewing time. It is the time marked by our clock. The hours follow one after another, and time seems to repeat itself without meaning. It is chronological time. We are often enslaved to this way of counting time. Time is never enough, and we always lack time to do what we must and want to do.
But there is another way to understand time. When we reflect more deeply, we realize that time can be considered differently. That is, time is marked by the most critical events in our lives. It is the time that the bible calls kairos. Some events change the sense of time, such as when two people marry and form a family; or when a child is born into a family; or when a loved one dies; or when something extraordinary happens in society or the Church (like the visit of our pope Francis in the Gulf). These are all events that profoundly mark the meaning of our time. There is a saying that “joy cannot be measured in moments of time but in timeless moments.”
Christmas is a moment in time that changes the whole sense of time and gives a new meaning to all things, therefore, it is not just a moment in time but more a timeless moment - kairos. For this reason, Saint Paul, in the letter to the Galatians, says that Jesus enters the world in the fullness of time. Jesus himself fills our time because he gives meaning and direction to the history of humanity, orienting it definitively toward the kingdom of heaven.
Time is not an eternal meaningless return. Time is oriented towards the kingdom of heaven when God will be all in all. Jesus is the fullness of time because he is the fullness of God's gift to humanity. If we look at time this way, we are no longer enslaved but set free because his love has made us children of God, and we can call God our Father. When we experience love, then our time receives a new and positive meaning.
Thus, we arrive at the title of today's feast, Mary, Holy Mother of God. We Christians do not call Mary only the mother of Jesus but also the Mother of God because the son of God entered the world through her. Divinity and humanity in Jesus are united forever. Mary is truly the mother of God because Jesus is God with us forever. It is so beautiful to start the new year by celebrating Mary as the mother of God, that is, as the Mother of the Son of God who has become for us the son of man.
Dear brothers and sisters, the birth of Jesus in time assures us that our history is firmly anchored in God's hands. The history of humanity, despite the still present evils and tribulations, is enveloped in the mercy of the Lord, who has created us for happiness. He created us to love and be loved. We are created not to be enslaved but to be free children of God. We don't know what will happen in this new year, but we are sure that it will be a year of the Lord to grow in love and experience the freedom of being children of God.
Celebrating the divine motherhood of Mary, let's start the new year in the best way. We entrust to the mother of God every day of our lives, our families and our children. May Mary's intercession make a new beginning possible for us too. We are called to be new creatures and to be witnesses of Jesus in our families and in every place where we live.
Dear brothers and sisters, welcome the Lord's blessing into your hearts on this day: hear the words that God entrusts to Moses addressed to you and your families:
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.