The new liturgical year begins with Mary

Luke’s Gospel, chap. 1, verses 26-38

Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception
December 8, 2018
Homily of the Pontiff Samuel

(Draft)

The Mystery of Mary Immaculate is an inscrutable and inaccessible Mystery to human mind. Only by starting from the living and holy Heart of the Immaculate, which is filled with God’s Love for  a special grace (Lk 1:28), we can understand the path of Christianity. Everything starts from Mary (Lk 1:35; Rev 12:1) to arrive to the Mystery of the One Only Begotten Son (Lk 1:31-33; Rev 12:5) and thus to be able to understand the fatherhood of this Father.

Here is then that if we don’t understand the Mystery of the Immaculate, we are not able to understand the Mystery of the Child‑God born to allow all humanity to live (Jn 17:2-3; Rm 5:17; 1Cor 15:22). Here is the bridge that links the Feast of the Immaculate Conception to the Feast of Christmas. It’s a single connection that starts from the Heart of this Mother to reach the Heart of this Child. Here is then that Christianity starts from Mary so to be lived in the Son Jesus.

This is why this Church begins her liturgical year on this day, the day of the Immaculate, to give a visible sign of the beginning of the journey of Christians: Mary, from whom everything starts, from whose Immaculate Heart everything has started (Lk 1:26-33) and everything starts again (Rev 12:1-3.5), in this historical time in which the Father has sent His Son, Baby Jesus, descended in this Land of Love (Lk 21:27) to regenerate this world, to make restart the hearts of many in this world, so that the purity of faith may return to shine.

This is what we gain from the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, the totally Pure, the totally Beautiful, the totally Holy. We are to put the purity of faith back at the centre, so to start again and live as true Christians. And to attain this we are first to live as real men and real women. Here is that anyone who wants to be truly Christian, who wants to recognise himself in the One who is Mother, in Her pure and spotless Heart, has to start from that righteousness and from that loyalty, that is first human and then divine. Holiness, we know, must be lived starting from the little things of our everyday life, where each of us has to embody holiness, where each of us has to embody the Commandments of the Father’s Love (Mt 22:36-40), day after day. Only in this way, by starting from holiness in our everyday life, it will be possible to incarnate the Mystery of Her who is  totally Pure, totally Holy, totally Beautiful, in order to make Christianity shine forth. This is the centre of the journey for every Christian.

Therefore, we are to put the love for this Mother, to Mary, at the centre, in order to understand Her Essence and Her Substance. Great is the Mystery of the Immaculate, of She who was conceived before time, since ever known by God. Her love is alive and is given to every son who wants to live in Her. Mary gives Life, Mary is the One who generates Eternal Life (Lk 1:31). The fruit of Mary’s Love generates Life, for all those who want to live in Christ, with Christ and for Christ (Jn 1:4).

The Father, in this House, by founding this Church, wants to bring back to the centre the purity of the authentic Christian faith, that many have lost and that many have forgotten. By starting from the little things of everyday life, everything will be understood because everything will be lived.

Here is the Mystery of Mary. Here is the Mystery of those who embody Her Virtues. Only starting from this living Heart we can understand the path that the Father has drawn for His sons, so then to live the Mystery of His Heart of Father.

That is why the journey begins, also for us, on the Feast of Mary, of Her Immaculate Heart, aiming to reach the Father’s Heart, Feast of the Father’s Heart, fulfilment of everything and so to be able to understand the living paternity of this Father who in the Only-begotten Son, Christ, is manifested (Lk 1:78).

Here is the path for each one of us, to be able to understand the Mystery of the Trinity of this God, who is alive and manifests Himself in Mary.

The Mystery of Mary is great, great, the Mystery of this Maiden who opened Her Heart to welcome the Love that the Father brought Her. Here is the Holy Spirit that joining to Mary generates Love, the Fruit of Holy Love (Lk 1:35). Great is this Mystery. The Maiden of God listens to the great that the Father brings Her. She keeps listening and welcomes this great Mystery with living obedience, putting Herself totally at the Father’s disposal (Lk 1:38).

Mary had no knowledge of man (Lk 1:34), but She knew God well. Here is that Her knowledge of God led the Heart of this Maiden to generate the Love made Person (Lk 1:35).

Here is the Mystery of Mary Immaculate of the Holy Spirit, who kept in Her Heart the Love received from God, to then generate Love.

And over time this Love has borne fruit, fruit, fruit in plenty in the heart of anyone who has wanted to welcome It, so to be reborn to new life (1Jn 4:9). Here is the Fruit of Holy Love, which leads many to be regenerated in the Spirit of God, which makes everyone remain in the One Only Truth, Christ; that does not allow anyone to be lost but that allows to remain on the One Only Way that saves, Christ; so to give everyone Eternal Life which is Christ (Jn 14:6).

Here is this great Mystery, that is lived and is taking place. Everything starts from the Heart of She who is pure. The Father has found the pure Heart of a Maiden and He has entrusted Himself to Her Heart by sending His Son. And this Maiden, by welcoming Him into Her Heart, has been able to generate Love, Love, Love, the Love made Person (Lk 2:6-7).

Here is the Mystery of the Immaculate and the Mystery of the Christmas of Christ, that is physically and spiritually born to give new life to those who entrust themselves to Him. Great is this Mystery, that is human and divine, and that can be understood not by means of rationality but by the opening of heart so to live, live, live for eternity.

We want to start again from this day, by instilling in everyone’s heart the desire to live holiness, so to fully imitate the virtues of Mary, just as this Maiden, God’s Maiden, did in Her life (Mt 5:1-12) by opening Her little Heart to welcome that Child-God sent down from Heaven by the Father, and that in turn has incarnated the virtues of this Maiden, Mary, called by God to save the world. Here is then that by imitating the example of She who has given Herself for the love of God, then holiness can be lived in its entirety. This is what we are called to do on this day in order to be holy, alive and to able to transmit all this to the world of goodwill that will want to welcome the Mystery of the Child‑God, that will want to reach this Land of Love to adore and contemplate the One who has come down from Heaven (Mk 14:62) to bring Life back to the centre (Jn 5:21-26). This is the House of Life. Those who believe in Christ will never die (Jn 3:16). Here is then that all those who will continue this journey with faith wanting to remain Christians, to put Christ and Christianity at the centre, will never perish but will live forever.

This is the promise Jesus made. And this is the path of this Mother Church, which will never deny Christ and Christianity but lives to bring back to the centre Christ and Mary, Mary and Christ, an inseparable union of Hearts. There cannot be the One without the Other. This is what must be understood, this is what the world has not really well understood. The indissoluble union between the Heart of Christ and the Heart of Mary has not been understood. Fools are those who think they can totally live Jesus without completely loving Mary. The Father has united these two Hearts and no one can separate them: a single bridge that links the Heart of the Mother to the Heart of the Son. Jesus and Mary: indissoluble and eternal union.

We start from contemplating the Immaculate Heart of Mary in order to be able to contemplate the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. This is what this Church will put again at the centre of the heart of all those who want to live authentic Christianity, not to have divided plans, but to have them united and to contemplate Christ and Mary, because this is what the Father desires, this is what is in the Father’s Heart. No one in this Church can say to love Him without loving Her, or to love Her without loving Him.

This is the starting point for living the Mystery of the Immaculate. From this point we re-start so to be able to live and contemplate the Heart of Jesus, in this season of Advent that leads us to contemplate Christ’s Christmas. There can be no Advent if we do not start and re‑start from Mary’s Heart. The true Advent begins with the contemplation of the Heart of Mary, the Eternal Maiden, so to understand the Mystery of the Marian childhood, that lives in the heart of those who wish to welcome Her virtues and put them into practice, in order to bring the whole world to know them.

Here is that in this Church we are all children of this Mother, children of Mary (Jn 19:26). We are all consecrated to Her Immaculate Heart. This is why today is a day of great celebration. And today all together we will renew our consecration to Her Immaculate Heart, so that all of us, entrusting ourselves to this Mother, taking refuge under Her Mantle, can re-start on this journey, in this new liturgical year that begins today, to be able to even more contemplate the Mystery of Christ’s Christmas (Lk 2:10-12) and thus being able to reach the Heart of the Father, a living and holy Father who manifests Himself in the Only-begotten Son and will manifest Himself in fullness. This is the Mystery that we contemplate today in order to be able to penetrate the profundity of the Mystery of the One and Triune God, who is alive and true.

In Mary, with Mary and for Mary, the children of this Mother Church will proclaim to the whole world their praise to this Mother (Lk 1:48b) so to be able to win and triumph in the hearts of all those who want to live authentic Christianity.
And so be it.