On the first day of 2025, Pope Francis warned Christians against “imagining or inventing a God in the abstract” during his Mass for the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.

During his homily in St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis said there is a temptation, “which many people today find attractive, but can also mislead many Christians,” to hold this view, which is said was “associated with some vague religious feeling or fleeting emotion.”

“No. God was ‘born of a woman’; he has a face and a name, and calls us to have a relationship with him. Christ Jesus, our Savior, born of woman, has flesh and blood. Coming from the bosom of the Father, he takes flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary,” the pope said.

“From the highest heaven, he comes down to earth. Son of God, he becomes the Son of man. The image of the Almighty God, Christ came among us in weakness; though he was without blemish, ‘for our sake, God made him to be sin’ (2 Cor 5:21). He was born of woman; he is one of us, and for thus is able to save us,” he continued.

Although Jan. 1 is marked as the World Day of Peace by the Vatican, and it is the beginning of the Jubilee year, Francis focused his words on the Mother of God.

“At the beginning of this new year which the Lord has granted us, we do well to lift our eyes and hearts to Mary. For, like a Mother, she points us to her Son. She brings us back to Jesus; she speaks to us of Jesus; she leads us to Jesus. The Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, immerses us once more in the mystery of Christmas,” the pope said.

“The Apostle Paul sums up this mystery by telling us that ‘God sent forth his Son, born of a Woman’ (Gal 4:4). Those words – ‘born of a woman’ – echo in our hearts today; they remind us that Jesus, our Savior, became flesh and is revealed in the frailty of the flesh,” he said.

“Born of a woman. Those words bring us back to Christmas, for the Word became flesh. The Apostle Paul, in saying that Christ was born of a woman, almost senses the need to remind us that God became truly man through a human womb,” Francis continued.

He said these words also speak about the humanity of Christ, “to tell us that he is revealed in the frailty of flesh.”

“Born of woman, he comes to us as a tiny infant. That is why the shepherds who went to see what the Angel had proclaimed find not extraordinary signs or great displays, but ‘Mary and Joseph and the child lying in the manger’ (Lk 2:16). They found a tiny, helpless child in need of his mother’s care, clothing and milk, caresses and love,” the pope continued.

Quoting Saint Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, Francis said tell “while certainly able to, did not want to give himself directly to men, but chose to do so through the Blessed Virgin. Nor did he want to come into the world as a full-grown man, with no need of others, but as a small child, in need of a Mother’s care and nourishment.”

“By the frailty of his humanity and his concern for the weak and vulnerable, Jesus shows us the face of God. Brothers and sisters, it is indeed good for us to reflect on how Mary, the young woman of Nazareth, constantly brings us back to the mystery of Jesus, her Son. She reminds us that Jesus came in the flesh, and that we encounter him above all in our daily life, in our own frail humanity and that of all those whom we encounter each day,” the pontiff said.

“May we learn, like her, to discover God’s greatness in the little things of life. May we learn to care for every child born of a woman, above all by protecting, like Mary, the precious gift of life: Life in the womb, the lives of children, the lives of the suffering, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying,” Francis said.

The pope continued his emphasis on Mary in his Angelus address to St. Peter’s Square, saying heart of the Mother of God “corresponds to the newborn Messiah, who manifests the mercy of the Father.”

“Let us reflect on what the shepherds saw in Bethlehem, namely, the infant Jesus, and also on what they did not see, that is, the heart of Mary, who kept and reflected on all these things. First and foremost, the infant Jesus: This Hebrew name means ‘God saves’, and this is precisely what He will do,” Francis said.

“Indeed, the Lord came into the world to give us His very life. Let us think about this: All men are sons, but none of us chose to be born. Instead, God chose to be born for us: Jesus is the revelation of His eternal and infinite love, which brings peace into the world,” he said.

Follow Charles Collins on X: @CharlesinRome