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Illustration: Adoration of the Shepherds by Dutch painter Matthias Stom, c. 1650
Pope Francis’ Angelus Reflection
Saint Peter’s Square – Wednesday, 1 January 2025
Luke 2:8-21
8 And in that region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
10 And the angel said to them, “Be not afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people;
11 for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased!”[a]
15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
16 The shepherds went with haste, and found Mary and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they saw it they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child;
18 and all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
19 But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.
20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.
21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Dear brothers and sisters,
The surprise and the joy of Christmas continue in today’s Gospel (abovb), which narrates the arrival of the shepherds in the grotto in Bethlehem.
In fact, after the proclamation of the angels, “they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger” (v. 16). This encounter fills everyone with wonder, because the shepherds “made known the message that had been told them about this child” (v. 17): the newborn is the “savior”, the “Messiah”, the “Lord” (v. 11)!
Let us reflect on what the shepherds saw in Bethlehem, namely, the infant Jesus, and also on what they did not see, that is, the heart of Mary, who kept and reflected on all these things (v. 19).
First and foremost, the infant Jesus: this Hebrew name means “God saves”,
and this is precisely what He will do.
Indeed, the Lord came into the world to give us his own life.
Let us consider this: all humans are children, but none of us chose to be born.
God instead chose to be born for us. God chose.
Jesus is the revelation of His eternal love, which brings peace into the world.
The heart of Mary, the Virgin Mother, corresponds to the newborn Messiah, who manifests the Father’s mercy. This heart is the ear that heard the Archangel’s announcement; this heart is the hand of the bride given to Joseph; this heart is the embrace that enveloped Elizabeth in her old age.
In the heart of Mary, our Mother, hope is beating for the redemption and salvation of every creature.
Mothers always have their children at heart.
Today, on this first day of the year, dedicated to peace, let us think of all the mothers who rejoice in their hearts, and of all the mothers whose hearts are full of sorrow, because their children have been taken away by violence, by arrogance, by hatred.
How beautiful is peace! And how inhuman is war, which breaks the hearts of mothers!
In the light of these reflections, each of us can ask ourselves:
do I know how to remain in silence to contemplate the birth of Jesus?
And do I try to cherish in my heart this Advent, its message of goodness and salvation?
And how can I reciprocate such a great gift with a gratuitous gesture of peace, forgiveness, reconciliation?
Each one of us will find something to do, and this will do us good.
May Mary, the Holy Mother of God, teach us to keep the joy of the Gospel in our hearts and bear witness to it in the world.
