It is the celebration that closes the calendar year with the celebration of the First Vespers of the Solemnity of Mary Most Holy Mother of God, which is celebrated on January 1st, and the singing of the Te Deum, the Christian hymn of thanksgiving par excellence.
The look of Pope Francisin St. Peter’s Basilica, is aimed at Romethe city of which he is bishop, which after a demanding year of construction sites and public works is preparing to experience the jubilee year, which opened eight days ago with the opening of the Holy Door, and welcome millions of pilgrims arriving from all over the world: «The year that is coming to an end», states the Pontiff in the homily before the faithful, including the mayor of the city Roberto Gualtieri, who sits in the front row and is thanked by the Pontiff, «it has been a very challenging year for the city of Rome. Citizens, pilgrims, tourists and all those who were passing through experienced the typical phase that precedes a Jubilee, with the multiplication of large and small construction sites. This evening is the time for a wise reflection, to consider that all this work, in addition to the value it has in itself – as long as it is dignified work -, it had a meaning that corresponds to Rome’s own vocation, its universal vocation”.
Francis recalls that «in the light of the Word of God that we have just heard, this vocation could be expressed like this: Rome is called to welcome everyone so that everyone can recognize themselves as children of God and brothers among themselves. Therefore at this moment”, he adds, “we want to raise our thanksgiving to God because he has allowed us to work, to work a lot, and above all because he has allowed us to do it with this great sense, with this broad horizon which is hope of brotherhood”.
The Pontiff recalls the meaning of the celebration of December 31st: «This», he says, «it is the time of thanksgiving, and we have the joy of living it by celebrating the Holy Mother of God. She, who keeps the mystery of Jesus in her heart, also teaches us to read the signs of the times in the light of this mystery.”
Then he returns to the Year and adds that the motto of the Jubilee, “Pilgrims of hope”, «it is rich in meanings, depending on the different possible perspectives, which are like so many “ways” of pilgrimage», underlines Bergoglio, «one of these great roads of hope on which to walk is brotherhood: it is the path that I proposed in the Encyclical Brothers all. Yes, the hope of the world lies in brotherhood! And it is nice to think that in recent months our City has become a construction site for this purpose, with this overall meaning: preparing to welcome men and women from all over the world, Catholics and Christians of other confessions, believers of every religion, seekers of truth of freedom, justice and peace, all pilgrims of hope and brotherhood.”
The Pope, however, invites everyone to ask themselves a question: «Does this perspective have a foundation? Is the hope of a fraternal humanity just a rhetorical slogan or does it have a “rocky” foundation on which something stable and lasting can be built? The answer is given to us by the Holy Mother of God by showing us Jesus. The hope of a fraternal world”, he recalls, “it is not an ideology, it is not an economic system, it is not technological progress. No. The hope of a fraternal world is He, the incarnate Son, sent by the Father so that we can all become what we are, that is, children of the Father who is in heaven, and therefore brothers and sisters among us. And so, while we gratefully admire the results of the work carried out in the city, we become aware of what the decisive construction site is, the construction site that involves each of us: it is the one in which, every day, I will allow God to change in me what is not worthy of a child, what is not human, and in which I will commit, every day, to living as brother and sister of my neighbor.”
The celebration concluded with the singing of the Te Deum. Meanwhile, the opening rites of the Jubilee continue.
After the one in dioceses around the world last Sunday, on January 1st, at 5 pm, the Holy Door of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore by Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas while that of St. John Lateran it was opened last December 29th by the Pope’s cardinal vicar for the city of Rome, Baldo Reina. The last Holy Door of the four in Rome to be opened will be that of Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls Sunday 5 January.
At the end of the celebration, the Pope was accompanied to visit the Grado nativity scene set up in the square where he greeted and blessed some children and faithful present.
