In his Angelus address after the Jan. 1 Mass, Pope Benedict offered further thoughts on the peace offered to humanity in Christ.
The “face of God” was “revealed in Jesus,” he told pilgrims gathered outside the window of his study for Sunday's midday prayer.
“Thus do we begin the new year 2012 with our gaze fixed on the face of God, revealed in the child of Bethlehem,” he said, “and on his mother Mary, who with humble submission accepted the divine plan.”
Through Mary's acceptance of God's will, “the true light which enlightens everyone came into the world, and the path of peace was reopened.”
Pope Benedict invited all people “to have the patience and constancy to seek out justice and peace, to cultivate a taste for what is just and true.”
He noted that peace was “never a quality that can be fully achieved, but a goal to which we must all aspire and for which we must all work.”
“Let us pray that the leaders of nations may renew their willingness and commitment to accept and support this irrepressible desire of humanity,” he urged, entrusting this hope to Mary as “the mother of the 'King of Peace.'”
Feast of the Holy Family
Two days before the Solemnity of Mary the Mother of God, the Church observed another feast of the Christmas season as it honored the Holy Family on Dec. 30.
In his Dec. 28 general audience, Pope Benedict continued his series on prayer with a reflection on the prayer life of Jesus, Mary, and Saint Joseph.
Through their example, he said, “we learn to contemplate the mystery of God’s presence and to grow as faithful disciples of Christ.”
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He noted that the Gospels “present Mary as the supreme model of prayerful meditation on the mysteries of Christ’s life,”which the Church continues to practice through the Rosary.
Joseph, meanwhile, taught Jesus his own “quiet fidelity to work, prayer and observance of the precepts of the law.”
At the center of the Holy Family was “Jesus' unique relationship with his heavenly Father,” a mystery that “stands at the heart of all Christian prayer.”
“May the example of the Holy Family inspire all Christian families to be schools of prayer,” the Pope said, as he urged parents and children to “come to know that closeness to God which we joyfully celebrate in these days of Christmas.”