If, at the beginning of the year, we set our gaze on the Mother of the Lord, as the Church urges us to do, then everything becomes enlightened, despite the dark clouds that currently hang over the world.
Everything becomes enlightened, because you, O Mary, were chosen as the daughter of the human race. You not only gave birth to the Son of God, but you also followed Him as a disciple. Thus the Lord included you in a special way in the plan of salvation. This gives us hope, because our Father, who entrusted you with his only begotten Son, also made you the Mother of redeemed humanity.
Therefore, at the end of the Christmas Octave and at the beginning of the New Year, we turn to You, O Mother of this Beloved Child, and we place all people in Your heart.
When all our efforts to bring people to Jesus fail; when hearts seem stubborn and hardened; when minds are as if blinded, we entrust to your intercession especially those for whom we struggle. You know ways to reach the hearts of men, which we do not know.
But, beloved Mother, it is not only certain souls in particular who are in danger; but “though night still covers the earth and darkness the people” (Is 60:2). It would seem that the prince of darkness wants to subdue all peoples, promising them an artificial paradise and usurping their freedom. But he will achieve only pyrrhic victories, because Your beloved Son came into the world to destroy the works of the devil (1Jn 3:8), and indeed He did.
And you, beloved Mother, were called to crush the head of the serpent (Gen 3:15)… and so it happens!
Plead with your Son that many people may be converted this year; obtain for us a Church on fire for the salvation of souls; intercede that the mighty may be cast down from their thrones (cf. Lk 1:52), so that the anti-Christian darkness may be driven away and a time of consolation may come (cf. Acts 3:20).