” “The Nativity should not be "considered something of the past", because "we are the contemporaries" of the shepherds, of the people of Bethlehem, of the three Wise Men, and "we are full of joy in saying ‘God with us’, because we can say yes to the Child and His Mother, who is our Mother". With these words, uttered off the cuff during the first audience of 2008, wholly devoted to the figure of Mary, the Pope offered, as it were, a "Marian" interpretation of the Nativity, at the core of the Christmas festivities that have just ended. Also the "privileges" which stem from the appellations with which the Church honours the Virgin, explained the Pontiff off the cuff, "do not make Mary alien to us, but closer: like with this woman, God is extremely close to us, and she helps us as a mother and as a sister". "Let’s place our trust in Her was the Pope’s final prayer, starting from the figure of "God’s Mother" , that She may guide our steps in this new period of time that the Lord gives us to live and may She help us be the true friends of Her Son and the brave authors of His Kingdom in the world, the Kingdom of peace and truth". ” “
