BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

VESPERS AND TE DEUM
NEW YEAR'S EVE


Cover illustration of libretto, left: 'Mother of God', Albrecht Altdorfer, 1480, Kollegiatstftung Skt. Johann, Regensburg.






In New Year's Eve homily,
the Pope calls for solidarity
to help people weather the crisis




If you watched the telecast, you will know the Pope walked in his usual stately manner down the center aisle unassisted, although two deacons held up the sides of his cope in the prescribed manner - and prominently close enough to him was Inspector Giani on the left and Swiss Guard commandant Anrig on the right. Mons. Marini too walked much closer to him than he did in the past, The photo on the right showing the Pope being assisted was not taken from the central aisle, but as he prepared to mount the steps to the Papal chair, but it's a tendentious choice by the newsphoto editors - after the Christmas Eve incident - to portray a Pope who needs to be assisted much of the time! Well, how about showing him walking briskly entirely without attendants whenever he enters or leaves a room for an audience?


Vatican City, Dec. 31 (dpa) - Pope Benedict XVI Thursday called for more solidarity to help people find their way through the fallout of the economic crisis during his annual New Year's Eve address.

While giving thanks for the year that is coming to a close, the head of the Roman Catholic Church reminded listeners that many people are still suffering unemployment and other problems stemming from the global financial crisis and urged the more fortunate to show greater support for those people in 2010.

The pontiff's "Te Deum laudamus" (we praise thee, Lord) evening service is held every New Year's Eve to express thanks for the year coming to an end.

On Friday, the Pope will deliver his annual New Year's address at St Peter's Square at 0900 GMT. Since its establishment by Pope Paul V in 1967, the New Year's Day speech has been used by pontiffs to deliver a message of peace to rulers around the world.

{This is in addition to the more detailed Message for the World for Peace usually released several weeks earlier, as it was this year.]







Here is a translation of the Holy Father's homily:

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Dear brothers and sisters!

At the end of a year rich in events for the Church and for the world, we are here this evening at the Vatican Basilica to celebrate the First Vespers of the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Mary, Mother of God, and to raise a hymn of thanks to the Lord of time and history.

Above all, it is the words of the Apostle Paul that we heard just now, which throws a particular light on this time of year: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman... so that we might receive adoption" (Gal 4,4-5).

This dense Pauline passage speaks to us of 'the fullness of time' and enlightens us on the content of the expression.

In the story of the human family, God introduced his eternal Word, making it take on humanity like ours. With the Incarnation of the Son of God, eternity entered time, and the history of man was opened to absolute fulfillment in God.

Time had been, so to speak, 'touched' by Christ, the Son of God, and the Son of Mary, and had received new and surprising significances: it had become a time of salvation and grace.

It is precisely in this perspective that we could consider time at year's end and that to come, in order to place the most diverse events of our life - important or trivial, simple or indecipherable, joyous or sad - under the sign of salvation and accept the call that God addresses to us to lead us towards a goal that is beyond time itself: eternity.

The Pauline text also underscores the mystery of the nearness of God to all mankind. It is the nearness itself of the mystery of Christmas: God became man, and thereby gave man the unprecedented possibility to become a child of God.

All this fills us with great joy and brings us to raise praises to God. We are called to express with our voices, our hearts and our lives our thanks to the Lord for the gift of his Son, source and fulfillment of all the other gifts with which divine love fills the existence of each of us, of families, of communities, of the Church and of teh world.

Singing the Te Deum, which resounds today in Churches around the world, is a sign of the joyous gratitude which we address to God for all that he has given us in Christ. Truly, "from his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace" (Jn 1,16).

Following a happy custom, this evening, I wish, together with you, to thank the Lord, in particular, for the super-abundant graces granted to our diocesan community of Rome in the course of the year that is coming to an end.

I wish to address, first, a special greeting to the Cardinal Vicar, the the auxiliary bishops, priests and consecrated persons, as well as the many lay faithful who are gathered here.

I also greet with cordial deference the Mayor of Rome and other authorities present. My thoughts to go all who live in this city, especially those who are in situations of difficulty and hardship - to all and and to each one, I assure my spiritual closeness, with constant remembrance in my prayers.

As for the course followed by the Diocese of Rome, I renew my appreciation for the pastoral choice to take the time to verify the itinerary that has been followed so far, in order to increase the sense of belonging to the Church and to promote pastoral co-responsibility.

To underscore the importance of this verification, I too have wanted to make a contribution, speaking to the Diocesan Convention at St. John Lateran on May 26. I am happy that the diocesan program is proceeding positively with capillary apostolic action carried out in the parishes, prefectures and various church organizations, in two fields essential to the life and mission of the Church, namely, the celebration of Sunday Eucharist and the witness of charity.

I wish to encourage the faithful to participate in great numbers in the assemblies taking place in their parishes, in order to offer a valid contribution to the edification of the Church.

Even today the Lord wants to make his love for humanity known to the residents of Rome and entrusts to each one, in the diversity of their ministries and responsibilities, the mission of announcing his words of truth and bearing witness through charity and brotherly solidarity.

Only by contemplating the mystery of the Word incarnate can man find the answers to the great questions of human existence and thus discover the truth of his own identity.

Because of this, the Church, in all the world, and here in the Urbe, is committed to promoting the integral development of the human being.

Thus, I have learned approvingly of a programmed series of 'cultural encounters in the Cathedral' which will have my recent encyclical Caritas in veritate as the subject.

For many years, so many families, numerous educators and the parochial communities have been dedicated to helping young people construct their future on solid foundations, particularly on the rock that Jesus Christ is.

I hope that this renewed educational commitment may increasingly lead to a fruitful synergy between the church community and the city in order to help young people plan their lives.

I also hope that a precious contribution to this important field may come from the convention promoted by the Vicariate which will take place next March.

In order to be authoritative witnesses to the truth about man, prayerful listening to the Word of God is necessary. In this regard, I wish above all to recommend the ancient tradition of the lectio divina. The parishes and the various ecclesial entities, thanks to the subsidy prepared by the Vicariate, can usefully promote this ancient practice so that it becomes an essential part of ordinary pastoral ministry.

The Word - believed, announced and lived - urges us to behave with solidarity and sharing. In praising the Lord for the help that the Christian communities have offered with generosity to those who have knocked on their doors, I wish to encourage everyone to follow through with this commitment to alleviate difficulties in which so many families still find themselves due to the economic crisis and unemployment.

May the Nativity of the Lord, which reminds us of the gratuitousness with which God came to save us, in taking on our humanity and giving us his divine life, may help every man and woman of good will to understand that only by opening up to the love of God, can human behavior change, is transformed, becoming the yeast for a better future for everyone.

Dear brothers and sisters, Rome needs priests who can be courageous announcers of the Gospel, and at the same time, reveal the merciful face of the Lord.

I invite all young people not to be afraid to answer with the complete gift of their own existence the call that the Lord makes for them to follow him in the way of priesthood or the consecrated life.

I also hope that the encounter next March 25 - on the 25th anniversary of the institution of World Youth Day, and the 10th anniversary of that unforgettable gathering in Tor Vergata [Rome, site of the Jubilee Year WYD] may represent for all the parochial and religious communities, movements and associations, a key moment for reflection and invoking the Lord for numerous vocations to the priesthood and the consecrated life.

As we take leave of the year that is ending and we face the new year, the liturgy today introduces us to the Solemnity of the Most Blessed Mary, Mother of God. The Blessed Virgin is the Mother of the Church and mother of each of her members, that is, the mother of each of us, in Christ.

Let us ask her to accompany us with her thoughtful protection today and always, so that Christ may welcome us one day, in his glory, to the assembly of saints: Aeterna fac cum sanctis tuis in gloria numerari. ['Make them to be numbered with thy Saints in glory everlasting- from the Te Deum laudamus hymn, attributed to St. Ambrtose.] Amen!

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