Feast of Mary the Mother of God
January 1st 2018
Gospel: Luke 2,16-21
Homily of the Pontiff Samuel
(Draft)
On this feast day that, as proclaimed by the passage of Luke’s Gospel, places Mary, the Mother of God (Lk 2:21) at the centre, I wish to bring the live closeness of this Church to everyone, so that every son may feel, in his heart, the live presence of the Father, who manifests His live belonging and his live fatherhood in this Church.
With this new beginning, once again we want to consecrate our hearts of sons to the Heart of the Father and to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Mother of God, to Her that we want to honour in a special way on this day. Entrusting ourselves to the Father’s Heart, we will feel His paternal cares healing our wounds, and caring our soul so to make it pure and holy, just as pure and holy is the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the most beautiful, the most pure and holy, She who, entrusting Herself to the Father’s will, has found favour in His Heart (Lk 1:30) and has been elevated to His dignity, becoming His Mother (Lk 1:43), Mother of the Most High, Mother of the Redeemer. Mary is the example for each one of us (cf. Lk 1:49). Mary is the Mother who protects and guides every son of this Church, who wants to be an icon of Mary.
Mary, Mother Church (Jn 19:27), New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2), is the Church wanted by the Father, the great family called to give back to every son of God (1Jn 3:1) the dignity of being a living and active part of this mystical Body (1Cor 12:27), in which each one, by the live prayer and the true brotherhood, manifests the desire to be a living and active member (Rom 12:5-5); and not passive, nor inactive (Eph 5:14): but alive, alive, alive.
Every son and every believer of this Mother Church, on the example of the Mother of God (Lk 1:38a) must live their own call with a sentiment of deep love, so to manifest the spirit that wants to bring, through this Church, the living presence of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19) back to the centre of the life of every Christian and of every man and woman of good will, in order to give once again a meaning to life and lymph to all those who want to restart and to place at the centre of their life, the live love of the Father (Jd 1) and the live love of Mary, She who is Mother (Mt 2:11), She who was called by the Father to give life to the Holy Family (Lk 1:27-33), as we have remembered yesterday: that Holy Family who gave the world Its Fruit of Love, so to allow humanity to be regenerated in heart and restored in spirit.
This is the lymph that comes from the Father’s Heart, which this Mother Church wants to give to this humanity through the Heart of God’s Son who, grafted in Mary, gives back to the world the splendour and beauty of an authentic Christianity, so to make salvation not seen as a gift … nor as a distant and unattainable goal (Jl 3:5); but for being recognised (Lk 2:30, 3:6) and loved, near (Lk 1:7), within the reach of all those who, putting heart and will, want to live and receive the live blessing of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:47). The Blessing that, in this new beginning, welcomes those who, with sincerity of heart – and wanting to imitate the example of Mary, the faithful Handmaid (Lk 1:38) – bow down before the Father’s Heart in order to fulfil His will (Mt 6:10) through to the end, in their everyday life.
The Blessing of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, arrives and bears fruit in every heart where there is true repentance, in order to be reborn to new life (Jn 3:7). The Blessing of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit arrives and bears fruit in all those who are longing to undertake the path that leads to the comprehension of the Truth (2Jn 4), so to be redeemed and purified and to receive the gift of the live and holy enthusiasm which leads every son and every man and woman of good will, to understand the whole Truth (Jn 16:13).
Here is the invitation that today, from this Mother Church, wants to reach the heart of every son of God and the hearts of those who are searching the Truth. «Entrust to the care of the Father (Mt 8:7) and of the Mother. Open your heart and accept the will of the Father (Jn 6:38; Eph 5:17), putting your complete confidence in Her who is Mother. Entrust your heart to the Love of Mary. Put your heart in Her caring hands of Mother: you will find it warm and holy so to be ready to witness, with your life, the live fatherhood of He who is Father, that wants to help you to grow, share and fraternise, and to put at the centre of your daily life, the prayer and the brotherhood (Heb 13:1), which leads to be true brothers and true Christians, in order to make everyone rediscover the Covenant of Love (Gen 6:18; 9:12) that binds the Father’s Heart to the hearts of the sons who have entrusted themselves to the maternal care of this Mother Church, with whom the Father has made a Covenant (Jer 31:31-33) indissoluble (cf. Gen 17.19b), inscrutable, but understandable to the heart, the more there is abandonment to His will».
Let us invoke Mary, the Mother of God, so that the Father may lay His hand on this Church, to protect and safeguard Her from all treachery (Jdt 9:14) and to annihilate with His power every evil spirit and every enemy of Christ (Rev 11:18).
Let us invoke Mary, the Mother of God, so that the Father may lay His Hand on this Church, on each one of His sons and on all those who live Her, with profound adoration, so that the Father may heal (Hos 7:1) and protect, purify and sanctify (Mal 3:1-3).
Let us invoke Mary, the Mother of God, so that the Father may lay His hand to bless and to cancel, where there is sincerity of heart (Ps 51:8), every guilt and every sin (Ps 51:4), and to cleanse the heart, purify the soul and make the spirit limpid and transparent, ready to welcome the Truth and to understand the Mysteries of God that lead to contemplate the One who is, the Omnipotent (Rev 4:8), the One who lives and reigns for ever and ever (Rev 4:9).
Let us unite our hearts in Mary, the Holy Mother, giving Her thanks, thanking Her once again for having given us Her Fruit, conceived by the Holy Spirit (Lk 1:35); and for having allowed Him to enter the hearts of all those who are animated by good will. Mary, God’s Maiden (Lk 1:27b), the Eternal Maiden, the Immaculate, the most beautiful Bride, the Holy Flower for humanity, the Mother of God, universal, the assumed to Heaven, the Coredemptrix, the Queen of Angels and Saints, the Bride of the Most High; the Church, the Mother Church, She who welcomes Her sons and nourishes them with the maternal, holy and pure love, that in essentiality and in substantiality makes everyone be authentic and veracious: true men, true women and authentic Christians.
This is the auspicious message that this Church, in this new beginning, wants to give to all those who want to know, and recognise, the divinity (Acts 17: 23b-31).
From this Holy Mountain (Zc 8:3; Is 56:7a; 65:25; Ps 15:1; Ps 43:3; Jl 4:17) today shines the Light that lightens the darkness (Jn 1:9), to restore Peace, Love, Joy and Sincerity, so that in Mary this humanity may rediscover the Way, may discover the Truth and receive in turn the Eternal Life (Jn 14:6). May this hope reach the heart of all sons, and all men and women of good will who with Strength, Sweetness, Simplicity and Humility want to become saints and worshipers of the Truth (Jn 4:23), so that, listening to this message of love, everyone may raise their eyes to Heaven and look at Mary, the Star (Mt 2:9b-11a), which will lead all to contemplate the Saviour (Lk 2:11), the only Saviour (Acts 5:31): Christ, descended from Heaven to reunite all the peoples (Mk 11:17; Is 2;2; 56:7; 66:18b; Tob 14:6a; Rev 15:4c) under one only Shepherd (Ez 37:24). And so be it.