Mary invites us to enter the New Year with confidence

On January 1st, the Church celebrates Mary, Mother of God. I find it very beautiful to enter a new year with the Virgin Mary. Mary invites us to enter it with both trust and alertness.

Mary faces the future confidently. As a daughter of Israel, she has faith in the Lord and knows that God always keeps his promises. She lives in his presence. She feels his tenderness and mercy towards all. She lets herself be guided by him. Her existence has not always been a dream life. She went through happy, bright moments, but also painful ones. She felt a sword of pain pierce her. She experienced moments of unanswered questions and darkness. But she never let go of God's hand. As her cousin Elizabeth said, she is the one who believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her (Lk 1:45).

Mary's trust is contagious. With her, we really learn to trust.

Trust is not optimism. The latter is human--it depends on temperament or analysis of a situation. Trust is rooted in God. It is a fruit of the Spirit and does not depend on the qualities of the person or the potentially positive outcomes of a situation. Trust is born through faith in God. It knows that God is with us and guides us if we entrust our life to him. As Saint Paul wrote: All things work together for good to those who love God. (Rm 8:28). To trust is to surrender oneself into the hands of God. Trust drives away fear. It is a source of great inner freedom. It gives rise to unexpected potentialities in us. Let us enter this new year with great trust.

Jean-Pierre, Cardinal Ricard

Archbishop of Bordeaux

Homily of December 31, 2014