Selected quotes of Pope Benedict XVI offered daily for prayer and reflection….

Click here to go back to the archive menu.

 

 
Mary, Theotokos
 


On this first day of the year, the Church fixes her gaze on the heavenly Mother of God, who embraces the Child Jesus, source of every blessing. "Hail, Holy Mother", the liturgy sings, "the Child to whom you gave birth is the King of Heaven and Earth for ever".

 
Angelus Address
St Peter's Square
1 January 2006

 
 
 
Mary, Theotokos
 


Anyone who stops to meditate before the Son of God lying helpless in the crib can only feel surprised at this humanly incredible event; one cannot but share the wonder and humble abandonment of the Virgin Mary, whom God chose to be Mother of the Redeemer precisely because of her humility.

 
General Audience
3 January 2007

 
 
 
Mary, Theotokos
 


With complete availability, interior openness and freedom, Mary allowed God to fill her with love, with his Holy Spirit. Mary, the simple woman, could thus receive within herself the Son of God, and give to the world the Savior who had first given himself to her.

 
Angelus
Stephansplatz, Vienna
9 September 2007

 
 
 
Mary, Theotokos
 


The fundamental truth about Jesus as a divine Person who fully assumed our human nature is condensed in the phrase: "God sent forth his Son born of woman". He is the Son of God, he is generated by God and at the same time he is the son of a woman, Mary. He comes from her. He is of God and of Mary.
For this reason one can and must call the Mother of Jesus the Mother of God.

 
Homily, First Vespers
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
31 December 2006

 
 
 
Mary, Theotokos
 


Our gaze continues to be turned to the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God, while with particular emphasis we contemplate the Motherhood of the Virgin Mary.
In the Pauline passage we have heard (cf. Gal 4: 4), the Apostle very discreetly points to the One through whom the Son of God enters the world: Mary of Nazareth, Mother of God, Theotokos.
At the beginning of a new year, we are invited, as it were, to attend her school, the school of the faithful disciple of the Lord, in order to learn from her to accept in faith and prayer the salvation God desires to pour out upon those who trust in his merciful love.

 
HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI
Vatican Basilica
1 January 2006

 
 
 
Mary, Theotokos
 


"And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart" (Lk 2: 19).
The first day of the year is placed under the sign of a woman, Mary. The Evangelist Luke describes her as the silent Virgin who listens constantly to the eternal Word, who lives in the Word of God. Mary treasures in her heart the words that come from God and, piecing them together as in a mosaic, learns to understand them.
Let us too, at her school, learn to become attentive and docile disciples of the Lord. With her motherly help, let us commit ourselves to working enthusiastically in the "workshop" of peace, following Christ, the Prince of Peace.

 
Homily, Vatican Basilica
1 January 2006

 
 
 
Mary, Theotokos
 


At Bethlehem, in the fullness of time, Jesus was born of Mary; the Son of God was made man for our salvation, and the Virgin became the true Mother of God. This immense gift that Mary has received is not reserved to her alone, but is for us all. In her fruitful virginity, in fact, God has given "to men the goods of eternal salvation..., because by means of her we have received the Author of Life" (cf. Collect Prayer). Mary, therefore, after having given flesh to the Only-Begotten Son of God, became the mother of believers and of all humanity.

 
Angelus;
St Peter's Square, 1 January 2008


 

<< Back  1  2  3