Through Mary’s ‘yes,’ we see God’s love in Jesus’ face, Pope preaches on New Year’s Day
January 01, 2026
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica this morning and preached that the Blessed Virgin Mary’s loving offering of her freedom allowed mankind to see God’s benevolent gaze in Jesus’ face (booklet, video).
The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, celebrated January 1, is among the holy days of obligation in the universal Church, except where bishops’ conferences have suppressed the obligation with Vatican consent (Canon 1246). January 1, 2026, is also the 59th World Day of Peace.
The blessing recounted in the first reading at Mass (Num 6:24-26) highlights “the sacred and fruitful dimension of offering gifts within the relationship between God and the people of Israel,” Pope Leo preached. “Human beings offer the Creator all that they have received, and he, in turn, responds by turning toward them his benevolent gaze.”
The people of Israel, to whom the blessing was addressed, had exchanged slavery in Egypt—with its food, shelter, and “a measure of stability”—for freedom in the desert, where “many of those former comforts were lost.” This freedom, said the Pope, “took shape as an open road toward the future, found in the gift of a law of wisdom and in the promise of a land where they might live and grow without shackles or chains.”
The Pope commented:
Thus, at the dawn of the new year, the Liturgy reminds us that for each of us, every day can be the beginning of a new life, thanks to God’s generous love, his mercy and the response of our freedom. It is beautiful to view the coming year in this way: as an open journey to be discovered. Indeed, through grace, we can venture forth on this journey with confidence—free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and bringers of forgiveness, trusting in the closeness and goodness of the Lord who accompanies us always.
Much as the Israelites’ freedom in the desert reminds Christians of their freedom, the divine motherhood of the Blessed Virgin Mary recalls the offering of gifts to God and God’s benevolent gaze. The Pope preached:
By her “yes,” she helped give a human face to the source of all mercy and benevolence: the face of Jesus. Through his eyes—first as a child, then as a young man and as an adult—the Father’s love reaches us and transforms us.
Therefore, as we set out toward the new and unique days that await us, let us ask the Lord to help us experience at every moment, around us and upon us, the warmth of his fatherly embrace and the light of his benevolent gaze ... At the same time, let us also give God glory through prayer, holiness of life, and by becoming mirrors of his goodness for one another.
“One of the fundamental features of God’s face,” the Pope continued, is “the complete gratuity of his love. As I emphasized in the Message for this World Day of Peace, God presents himself to us ‘unarmed and disarming,’ as naked and defenseless as a newborn in a cradle. He does this to teach us that the world is not saved by sharpening swords, nor by judging, oppressing or eliminating our brothers and sisters. Rather, it is saved by tirelessly striving to understand, forgive, liberate and welcome everyone, without calculation and without fear.”
“In Mary’s divine motherhood, then, we see the meeting of two immense, ‘unarmed’ realities: that of God, who renounces every privilege of his divinity to be born in the flesh (cf. Phil 2:6-11), and that of a human person who, trustingly and fully, embraces God’s will,” Pope Leo added. “In a perfect act of love, she offers him the greatest power she possesses: her freedom.”
Referring to the Gospel reading at Mass (Lk 2:16-21), the Pope concluded his homily by inviting the faithful to imitate the shepherds of Bethlehem:
Let us draw near to the Nativity scene in faith. Let us approach it as the place of “unarmed and disarming” peace par excellence—a place of blessing where we recall the wonders the Lord has worked in the history of salvation and in our own lives. Then, like the humble witnesses at the grotto, let us set out once more, “glorifying and praising God” (Lk 2:20) for all that we have seen and heard. May this be our commitment and our resolve for the months ahead, and, indeed, for the whole of our Christian lives.
Pope Leo celebrated the Mass in Italian, with extensive Latin chants. The Mass, which lasted just over 90 minutes, concluded with the singing of the antiphon Alma Redemptoris Mater and the hymn Adeste Fideles.
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