ANGELUS TODAY
In his address to thousands of pilgrims gathered in Saint Peter's Square for the first Angelus prayer of 2013, Pope Benedict likened the new year to "a journey" and prayed that it may lead on a path to peace "for every person and every family, for each country and for the whole world."
In English, he said:
Today, New Year’s Day, we celebrate the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. With affectionate trust, Our Lady believed the message revealed to her by the angel’s word and bore Jesus Christ, true God and true man. May her powerful intercession bring you a happy and prosperous New Year!
He had special words after the prayers for those who wished him well for the New Year, for the European youth gathered in Rome for the Taize Community's annual youth encounter; and for the Italian participants of peace marches held all over Italy yesterday and today.
I express my most hearfelt wishes for teh New Year to everyone. May it truly be a good year, and it will be if we welcome within us and among us the love that Christ gives us.
With gratitude, I express my best wishes to the President of the Italian Republic and to the entire nation, as well as to all the authorities who sent me their holiday greetings.
I renew my affectionate greeting to the young people who came to Rome for the European encounter of the Taize Community.
And I express my spiritual closeness to the church initiatives taken for today's observance of the World Day for Peace. I especially thank those who took part in the national March for Peace which took place last night in Lecce (southern Italy), as well as that held this morning here in Rome under the leadership of the Sant'Egidio Community.
I greet the members of the Movimento dell'Amore Familiare who held a prayer vigil in St. Peter's Square last night, as did their members in Milan and L'Aquila.
To everyone, I repeat the wortds of Jesus: "Blessed are the poeacemakers". [DIM]
Here is a full translation of the Pope's reflection before the prayers:
Dear brothers and sisers,
A happy New Year to everyone! On this first day of 2013, I wish to extend the blessing of God to every man and woman in the world.
I do so with the ancient formulation found in Sacred Scripture: "The LORD bless you and keep you! The LORD let his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The LORD look upon you kindly and give you peace!" (Num 6,24-26).
Just as the light and warmth of the sun are a blessing for the earth, so is the light of God for mankind, when he makes his face shine upon us. And this happened with the birth of Jesus Christ. God let his face shine upon us: At the beginning, in a very humble and hidden way - in Bethlehem, only Mary and Joseph and some shepherds were witnersses to this Revelation. But little by little, like the sun which reaches noon after the dawn, the light of Christ grew and spread everywhere.
Already in his brief earthly life, Jesus of Nazareth made the face of God shine over the Holy Land. And then, through the Church inspired by his Spirit, he extended the Gospel of peace to all peoples.
"Glory to God in the highest heavens, and on earth, peace to all men in whom he is pleased" (Lk 2,14). This was the song of the angels at Christmas, and it is the song of Christians under any sky. A song which from hearts and lips passes into concrete gestures, acts of love that build dialog, understanding and reconciliation.
That is why, eight days after Christmasn, when the Church, as the Virgin Mary did, shows the world the newborn Jesus, Prince of Peace, we celebrate the World Day for Peace.
Yes, that Baby, who is the Word of God made flesh, came to bring men a peace that the world cannot give (cfr Jn 14,27). His mission is to bring down the "wall of enmity" (cfr Eph 2,14). And when, on the shores of Lake Galileee, He proclaimed his Beatitutes, one of this was "Blessed are the peacemakers, because they shall be called children of God" (Mt 5,9).
Who are the peacemakers? They are all those who, day after day, seek to conquer evil with good, with the power of truth, with the weapons of prayer and forgiveness, with honest work that is well-done, with scientific research in the service of life, with corporal and spiritual works of mercy.
There are so many peacemakers, but they do not make the news. Like yeast in the dough, they make mankind grow according to God's plan.
On this first Angelus of the new year, let us ask the Most Blessed Mary, Mother of God, to bless us as a mother blesses her children who must leave on a journey. A new year is like a journey: with the light and grace of God, may it be a journey of peace for every man and every family, for every nation, and for the whole world.
