Pope Francis
Homily on January 1 at St. Andrew Abbey

“To the consternation of many non-Catholics, we sometimes let personal forms of piety toward Mary obscure the reasons behind our Church’s devotion to her.  Perhaps we, in our personal emotional involvement with Mary, even lose sight of her genuine place in our faith and Church, we run the very real risk of simply sentimentalizing her, and thereby trivializing Christ.

In our attempt to understand God, we grow in comprehension of the meaning of the Incarnation in our world and life.  It is in this light that we must reflect on the Virgin Mary, Theotokos, Mother of God, mother of Jesus Incarnate.  And just as Mary interpreted all things, pondered all things in her heart, so does the Church reflect on her and the Incarnation through its liturgy, its writings and its faith.  That is why her oldest feast, Mother of God, is celebrated within the octave of Christmas, of Emmanuel, of God with us:  for all devotion to Mary is corollary to our devotion to, following of, and worship of Christ.

And each step of the way, Mary had to re-assert her “Yes” of the Annunciation, ever and more deeply understanding what her response meant.  She spent her life pondering the visible Word of God that was and is her Son.  She grew in knowing him, in comprehending the mystery of God Incarnate.  And as Mary pondered that visible Word, we too must ponder the Word in scripture; that Word in each other, that Word in the created world around us.  We too are asked to incarnate Jesus in our lives.  This is needed by all of us in this strange, confusing and dangerous age.  And I must especially say, that we in times of silence face the Word of God and let it shine upon us, and that we make Christ visible in our life, our work, in our very souls.  For, in incarnating Jesus in our hearts we discover ourselves.

Reflection calls for response.  And Mary’s response to God ought not to be thought of as simply a choice between right and wrong, good or bad, some sort of ethical or moral decision.  Nor should our choices be only that Mary gives us an example of what our choice as Christians really implies:  that each genuine choice we make reveals who we are and is not simply what we do.  In our choices, we act out of our self, and tell of our self.  Christian, human, freedom of choice is not about choosing which film we go to see, or what we will wear, or what we will own:  it is about how we reveal and define ourselves on that journey to God.  Mary’s choice was not right or wrong, it stemmed from who she was and knew herself to be:  a child of God.”