New Creation and Newness in Christ

Homily of H.E. Most Rev. Charles John Brown D.D.,

Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines

January 1, 2026 | Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God

St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, Barangay Magallanes, Makati City

“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets; in these last days, he has spoken to us through the Son” (Hebrews 1:1)

My dear brothers and sisters, in Christ:

For me as the Apostolic Nuncio here in the Philippines, it gives me a lot of joy and happiness to be back here at St. Alphonsus Mary de Liguori Parish, also known as the Magallanes Church, at the invitation of your beloved parish priest, the Rev. Msgr. Roberto C. Canlas, for my second visit to your parish. The first one was on Easter of 2024, and today, I'm back again; and not only myself, but also the Counsellor at the Apostolic Nunciature, Msgr. Giuseppe Trentadue, who is seated behind me, and Fr. Guilherme De Melo Sanches, the newly arrived Secretary of the Nunciature. So, we're all here with you to celebrate this beautiful feast day of Mary, Mother of God.

My dear brothers and sisters, we are about 11 hours and 20 minutes into the year, the new year, 2026. 11 hours and 20 minutes into this new year. Some of us, maybe all of us, are a little bit sleepy and groggy this morning because of our late celebrations last night, and into the early morning. But in spite of our sleepiness and grogginess, we have in our hearts the feeling that something new is happening. We are here at the beginning of a new year. Every new year is a new beginning, the newness of this new year.

So, on one hand, we're perhaps curious about what this new year will bring. Maybe we're a little bit worried or concerned about what will happen in 2026, but on the other side, we're also very optimistic about the new year. It always brings optimism. You know, in this optimism, we often make new year's resolutions. Maybe many of you have new year's resolutions that you've made for 2026. 

I was reading recently that in Britain, and not only in Britain, but in different countries in Europe, the January attendance, that means the number of people in January who go to fitness centers is 28% higher than the preceding December. Because everybody makes these new year's resolutions, “I'm going to get in shape this year,” and they rush off to the fitness center in January. Then after January passes, the numbers begin to decline a little bit. All of us have these new year's resolutions because we have the hope that brings joy in this new year.

We see this newness in our liturgy today. We see Baby Jesus with Mary and Joseph; and there's nothing newer than a new baby. I'm happy to see some babies in the gallery above us here, babies here, babies there, and that's a wonderful sign of newness, hope, and joy.

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary, Mother of God. The feast of the baby Jesus, whom we heard in the liturgy, is there in Bethlehem, in the manger with Mary and Joseph. This infant, this baby, this Santo Niño, whom the shepherds worship, is the beginning of a new humanity, a new form of human life.

A New Creation

At the very end of the New Testament, in fact, the last book of the Bible, the Book of Revelation, also called the Book of the Apocalypse, we have the Lamb on the throne, who is Jesus in glory. The one sitting on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” (Revelation 21:5a). That's really what we feel this morning, as 2026 begins, “Behold,” the one on the throne, sitting on the throne at the end of time says, “I make all things new.”

In today's Gospel (Luke 2:16-21), the throne is maybe the humble manger in Bethlehem, or maybe the lap of the Virgin Mary. We have these beautiful images of Mary to my left and to my right: Mary with the baby Jesus on her lap. Mary is the throne of the baby Jesus. Mary is the seat of Jesus. Mary is the Seat of Wisdom, the Sedes Sapientiae, of this new life that she shows us.

Jesus, even as a baby, in a certain sense, is proclaiming to us at this moment, “Behold, I make all things new.” Because in Jesus, we have the possibility of a new form of existence, nothing less than that. A new way of living. Adam and Eve were the beginning of the old creation, the first creation. Christ, the Baby Jesus in Bethlehem is the beginning of a new creation in a very literal, realistic way.

Saint Paul writes in his Second Letter to the Corinthians, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (cf. 2 Cor 5:17). We should take those words literally. “If anyone in Christ is a new creation,” then Paul continues, “the old has passed away; behold the new has come.”

Our Lady, a Symbol of Newness

“The new has come,” and Our Lady is a symbol of that newness. Think about the contrast between Our Lady, the Blessed Virgin, Mary and her cousin, Saint Elizabeth. St. Elizabeth gave birth to her baby six months ago, the end of June—John the Baptist, given birth by Saint Elizabeth, down near Jerusalem. So, we have two miraculous pregnancies: Elizabeth, who was too old to have children, passed, way past the time in which she would be able to have children. Elizabeth, too old to have children, and Mary, a beautiful, young, youthful virgin, both became pregnant miraculously, Elizabeth, through the normal cooperation with her husband, Mary as a virgin. This beautiful, amazing contrast between old and new. This Elizabeth represents the end of the old, the final fruitfulness of what was then old and tired, we can say; and Mary is the beginning of what is new with Jesus.

The Old Self and the New Self

We know from experience that this new creation that all of us enjoy in Christ, that is in us through baptism and through the Holy Eucharist, but we know from our own experience that the old and the new are still both in us—the old humanity of Adam and Eve and the new humanity of Christ through Mary.

Saint Paul also says in his Letter to the Ephesians, “Put off your former way of life, your old self, corrupted by its deceitful desires, to be made new in the spirit of your minds, and put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph. 4:22-24).

So, in every human heart, we have that mixture of the old and the new, as Saint Paul says literally: “the old man and the new man,” or we can say in more inclusive language, “the old self and the new self,” both are present in our hearts. But like Saint John the Baptist said about Jesus, “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30). So, our jobs on this earth, as Christians, as Catholics, is to allow the old creation in us, with our old habits, our old fears, our old resentments, our old ways of judging, our old prejudices, allow that to decrease, and allow the new life to increase. That's our job, we can say, as Christians. To allow that new life to really flourish in us.

That new life is God's grace—God's sanctifying grace, which is transforming us. When we receive the Eucharist, we get an infusion, we can say, an injection of God's power, of His grace, which is changing us, allowing that new self to grow stronger, and the old self to slowly and quietly disappear. That whole question of continuous conversion, that's what it means to be a Catholic. That's why that newness is so important for us that we celebrate today.

So, if we're making a resolution for 2026, I think our resolution is…

Let's live the newness of Christianity to the full.

Let's understand the greatness of the life of sanctifying grace that comes into us.

Let's realize that there's really nothing more precious than that new life that is coming into us through the sacraments.

Peace in Union Christ

Finally, that newness of life that Christ brings us also gives us, as a consequence, peace. Peace. As we grow in the life of Christ, as we grow in this new life, and the old self, slowly begins to disappear, we enjoy peace.

Pope Leo XIV has spoken about that. As you heard, today is the World Day of Peace. In fact, it's the 59th World Day of Peace, proclaimed by the Holy Father in Rome this January 1st, 2026. Here's how Pope Leo begins his message, and I will conclude with these words, because it's about peace and transformation, which we're talking about this morning. He says this,

“Peace be with you!”

This ancient greeting, still in use today in many cultures, was infused with new life on the evening of Easter on the lips of the risen Jesus.  “Peace be with you” (Jn 20:19, 21) is his Word that does not merely desire peace, but truly brings about a lasting transformation in those who receive it, and consequently in all of reality.

So, brothers and sisters in Christ, this newness that we see in the baby Jesus is pulsating in the Church today, and we imbibe that newness in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass this morning.

So, on behalf of Pope Leo XIV in Rome. On behalf of the entire staff at the Nunciature, I wish each and every one of you a most blessed and Happy New Year 2026.

May God grant all your prayers and all your New Year's resolutions.

Congratulations and God bless you!