Week of January 7th

Pope Benedict XVI offers these thoughts for the New Year 2013, continuing the Year of Faith:

The Church — like the Virgin Mother Mary — shows the newborn Jesus, Prince of Peace, to the world...yes, that Child, who is the Word of God made flesh, came to bring a peace to men that the world cannot give. On the shores of the Sea of Galilee, he proclaims his “Beatitudes”, among them is also “blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons 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 strength of the truth, with the arms of prayer and of forgiveness, with honest work well-done, with scientific research that is at the service of life, with the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. The peacemakers are many, but they make not a sound. Like the yeast in dough, they cause humanity to rise according to God’s plan. This New Year...let us ask Mary Most Holy, the Mother of God, to bless us, just as the mother blesses her children who must leave on a journey.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/angelus/2013/documents/hf_ben-xvi_ang_20130101_world-day-peace_en.html