Today the Gospel reveals to us that Mary’s greatness does not consist in performing an extraordinary deed; rather, while the shepherds, having received the announcement from the angels, hurry towards Bethlehem (cf.Lk 2:15-16), she remains silent. The Mother’s silence is a beautiful feature. It is not the simple absence of words, but a silence filled with wonder and adoration for the wonders that God is working. “Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart”, Saint Luke notes (2:19). In this way she makes room within herself for the One who was born; in silence and adoration, she places Jesus at the centre and bears witness to him as Saviour. Mary, the Mother of silence; Mary, the Mother of adoration.

Thus, she is Mother not only because she carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to him, but because she brings him into the light, without occupying his place. She will remain silent even beneath the cross, in the darkest hour, and will continue to make room for him and generate him for us. A 20th-century religious and poet wrote: “Virgin, cathedral of silence / [...] you bring our flesh into paradise / and God into the flesh” (D.M. Turoldo, Laudario alla Vergine. “Via pulchritudinis”, Bologna 1980, 35). Cathedral of silence : it is a beautiful image. With her silence and humility, Mary is God’s first “cathedral”, the place where he and humanity can meet.

But our mothers too, with their hidden care, with their thoughtfulness, are often magnificent cathedrals of silence. They bring us into the world and then continue to attend to us, often unnoticed, so that we can grow. Let us remember this: love never stifles; love makes room for the other. Love lets us grow.

Brothers and sisters, at the beginning of the new year, let us look to Mary and, with a grateful heart, let us also think of and look to mothers, to learn that love that is cultivated above all in silence, that knows how to make room for the other, respecting their dignity, leaving the freedom to express themselves, rejecting every form of possession, oppression and violence. There is so much need for this today, so much! There is so much need for silence to listen to each other. (Angelus, 1 January 2024)
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