By Pope Benedict XVI

But first, a note: Pope Benedict XVI, who died a year ago yesterday, gave this homily (slightly shortened here) on January 1, 2013, the last New Year's Day of his papacy. Now for Pope Benedict XVI's homily...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

"May God bless us and make his face to shine upon us." We proclaimed these words from Psalm 66 after hearing in the first reading the ancient priestly blessing upon the people of the covenant. It is especially significant that at the start of every new year God sheds upon us, His people, the light of His Holy Name, the Name pronounced three times in the solemn form of biblical blessing. Nor is it less significant that to the Word of God - who "became Flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:14) as "the true Light that enlightens every man" (1:9) - is given, as today's Gospel tells us, the Name of Jesus eight days after His birth. (cf. Luke 2:21). . . .

Man is made for the peace which is God's gift. All of this led me to draw inspiration for this Message from the words of Jesus Christ: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9)

This beatitude "tells us that peace is both a messianic gift and the fruit of human effort . . . .It is peace with God through a life lived according to His will. It is interior peace with oneself, and exterior peace with our neighbors and all creation. Indeed, peace is the supreme good to ask as a gift from God and, at the same time, that which is to be built with our every effort.

We may ask ourselves: what is the basis, the origin, the root of peace? How can we experience that peace within ourselves, in spite of problems, darkness and anxieties? The reply is given to us by the readings of today's liturgy. The biblical texts, especially the one just red from the Gospel of Luke, ask us to contemplate the interior peace of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

During the days in which "she gave birth to her first-born son" (Luke 2:7), many unexpected things occurred: not only the birth of the Son but, even before, the tiring journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, not finding room at the inn, the search for a chance place to stay for the night; then the song of the angels and the unexpected visit of the shepherds.

In all this, however, Mary remains even tempered, she does not get agitated, she is not overcome by events greater than herself; in silence she considers what happens, keeping it in her mind and heart, and pondering it calmly and serenely. This is the interior peace which we ought to have amid the sometimes tumultuous and confusing events of history, events whose meaning we often do not grasp, and which disconcert us.

The Gospel passage finishes with a mention of the circumcision of Jesus. According to the Law of Moses, eight days after birth, baby boys were to be circumcised and then given their name. Through his messenger, God himself had said to Mary - as well as to Joseph - that the Name to be given to the Child was "Jesus" (cf. Matthew 1:21; Luke 1:31); and so it came to be. The Name which God had already chosen, even before the child had been conceived, is now officially conferred upon Him at the moment of circumcision.

This also changes Mary's identity once and for all: she becomes "the mother of Jesus," that is the mother of the Savior, of Christ, of the Lord. Jesus is not a man like any other, but the Word of God, one of the Divine Persons, the Son of God: therefore the Church has given Mary the title Theotokos or Mother of God.

The first reading reminds us that peace is a gift from God and is linked to the splendor of the face of God, according to the text from the Book of Numbers, which hands down the blessing used by the priests of the People of Israel in their liturgical assemblies. This blessing repeats three times the Holy Name of God, a Name not to be spoken, and each time it is linked to two words indicating an action in favor of man: "The Lord bless you and keep you: the Lord make His face to shine up...