Mary, conceived in the Love of the Father
and clothed with His omnipotence
Gospel: Luke, Chap 1, verses 26-38
December 8th, 2020
Solemn Feast of the Immaculate Conception
Beginning of the Liturgical Year 2021
Homily of the Pontiff Samuel
(Draft)
Today we begin our new liturgical year, in Mary, with Mary and for Mary. And we begin it on this day, the day of the Immaculate Conception, the day devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the devotional day in living the feast of She who has been conceived without sin, the Immaculate (Lk 1:28).
Mary Immaculate has marked the beginning, a new beginning of the history of God: the beginning of the history of redemption. And in the same way, this Mother Church, on the example of Mary, wants to begin this liturgical year by entrusting and consecrating all to Her Immaculate Heart, as we have just done, so to find shelter under Her mantle and to be taken by the hand by She who is Mother (Is 7:14b; Lk 1:31-33), so that She may remain at our side throughout this new year allowing us to live Jesus, Her only-begotten Son (Mt 1:21-23) more and more; and therefore to give joy to the Father’s Heart.
This liturgical year will reach its central point in the celebration of the Holy Easter, which this year will be on April 4; and the other central point will be the Feast of Baby Jesus, that marked the beginning of this Mystery, which this year will be on Sunday, June 13. Lent will begin on Wednesday February 17; and the last Sunday of the liturgical year, that is dedicated to the feast of the Father’s Heart, will be on December 5. The two feasts so dear to this Church are dedicated to Mary Most Holy: May 15, the feast of the apparition of Mary of the New Jerusalem to the whole world, will be on Saturday May 15; and then we will solemnly celebrate Mary’s Assumption which will be on Sunday August 15.
A liturgical year in which the evangelist Matthew will accompany us sons on our journey and in which we will meditate his gospel: a gospel so rich in inspirations, in this new cycle of readings in which the Church will restart from Matthew, from the apostle and evangelist Matthew (Mt 9:9; Mk 2:14; Lk 5:27-28).
Here is the feast of the Immaculate (Lk 1:46-47), She who has been conceived without stain. “Immaculate Conception”: conceived without the stain of original sin. This is the meaning of “Immaculate Conception”: the Father has preserved Mary from the stain of original sin, that entered the world because of the disobedience and infidelity of Adam and Eve (Gen 3:1-7). Here is that the Father, in His omniscience and in His all-embracing vision (Ps 139) – here is the all-seeing eye of the Father, He who sees everything and knows everything – in His omniscience and in His all‑embracing vision, the Father preserved Mary from the original sin, conceiving Her before the time was, generating Her in love, in His Heart that is “Love”. Mary, conceived before the time was, generated in the Love, so that sin would not enter Her. Great is this Mystery, the Father can do everything. And the Father did everything to preserve Mary, the Immaculate of the Holy Spirit, so that Mary could generate Her only-begotten Son, for this is what has pleased the Father to do (Wis 1:2-3). The Father has always been in relationship with Mary. Just as Mary has always been in relationship with the Father’s Heart (Lk 1:49). Here is this intertwining of love that ties Mary to the Father.
And now we want dive into this meditation of love and we want to abandon ourselves more and more in order to be able to live, from Spirit to spirit, this great Mystery that the world does not understand and that humanity is hardly willing to accept, because it’s a Mystery that defies any rational logic; and, as a consequence, men disavow what they do not understand. But this is not so for the sons of God, who widely open their hearts and minds so be able to welcome this Mystery that is inaccessible and unfathomable to human mind, but which can be well understood by means of a docile abandonment to the Father’s will. We have only to close our eyes and allow our hearts to fly, and our spirit to fly and reach its very Abode which is Mary, the Temple and Abode of the Holy Spirit (Rev 21:3). The more we abandon ourselves to Mary and Her Mystery, the more we will be able to understand the Mystery of the Father’s Heart, the Mystery of the only begotten Son (Mt 3:16-17; Mk 1:9-11; Lk 3:21-22).
Mary redeems Eve’s disobedience (cf. Rm 5:19). Mary’s obedience overcomes Eve’s disobedience. The purity of Mary overcomes the concupiscence of Eve. The humility of Mary overcomes the haughtiness of Eve. Here is the beginning of this new transition.
Everything is grace, as we have heard also today, just as the angel greeted Mary: “Hail, full of grace” (Lk 1:28). “Mary, do not be afraid; you have won God’s favour, for this is what has pleased the Father” (Lk 1:30). Everything is grace. Here is that Mary entrusted Herself to the Father’s heart (Lk 1:47) and the Father has given everything to Mary: He gave Her His grace and He gave Mary His power, His omnipotence.
“The Holy Spirit will come upon you” said the angel; “the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow” (Lk 1:35). This is why Mary can do everything. This House has formalized to be a dogma of Christianity, that Mary is the Coredemptrix by means of the grace conferred on Her by the Father, and the power conferred on Her by the Father: She has the power, together with Her Son and through Her Son, to save and to redeem, like Jesus the Redeemer. By grace, the power of God makes Mary be the Coredemptrix (Lk 1:47-49). Here is the Mystery of She who is full of grace. Here is the Mystery of She who was born without stain and always remained without stain because She remained in obedience to the Father, because She lived to give joy to the Father, because She lived to bring the Baby Jesus to triumph, whom She has begotten in the living and holy Spirit. And this is why the Father looked upon this Maiden (Lk 1:48) who wanted to be the Handmaid of the Lord, by offering and giving all Herself to Her Lord since the beginning, and by consecrating Her Heart to the Heart of the Father: Her Heart was already in relationship with the Father; Her Heart had already experienced the Love, even if being unaware, because the Father had generated Her in Love. Great is this Mystery: the Mystery of the mysteries, from which everything began.
Here is that, even this Church, called by the grace of the Father, begins her journey on this same day, in union and full consecration to Mary, so to undertake this journey and invite to this journey of holiness, all those who want to be, in Mary, sons of the Son (Gal 3:26); and all those of goodwill who want to be taken by the hand by Mary and by He who is Truth, thus to be led to understand and know the complete Truth (Jn 14:13). Not a relative truth, not a truth that everyone shapes to their own liking, but “the” Truth, that the Father, in Christ, with Christ and for Christ (Jn 14: 6), has given to His faithful sons. In Mary we are strong with the grace of God. In Christ we are sons of royal lineage, sons of He who is King (Rev 17:14; Rev 19:16).
This is why I say to you all in this new beginning: be humble, dear brothers, be loving to the fullest, but be strong, be proud and show to be worthy of the grace we have received, in order to be able to walk head held high in the ways of this world again so to honour the Immaculate Heart of Mary, so that everyone may embrace the one saving faith in Christ the Lord, begotten by Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is the announcement that the sons of this Mother Church want to bring back into the ways of this world again: return to Christ, return to Jesus, Jesus: pronounce His holy Name to praise Him, so that in the name of Jesus, may the Father save all those who entrust themselves to Jesus, in Mary, with Mary and for Mary (Acts 2:21; Heb 9:28; Acts 4:12; 16:31).
This is what we want to bring back today, as a new beginning, to this world. A world that suffers and makes Christ suffer as all those who care about Christians. Once again, the suffering is alive for all those who have Christians at heart. My heart bleeds for all that we have heard yet again, even in these last days: the Christians killed because of their faith. A twenty-four year old girl in Pakistan killed by her persecutor who wanted to marry her, to forcefully convert her to his Muslim religion, and who killed this girl who didn’t want to change her religion: she wanted to remain a Christ’s daughter. And because of this, her executioner killed her. And so, immediately a few days after, still in the same country, a Christian journalist was shot dead in his home. And all this continues in the widespread indifference and in the living suffering of those who have Christ and His sons at heart.
I appeal to Mary, I entrust myself and I entrust all those who are victims of this violence to her Heart: “Holy Mother, to Your Heart – to the Mercy of the Father through Your Heart – do I entrust the life of these brothers and these sisters who gave their life rather than deny their faith; May You, Holy Mother, console their families, console all those who weep so that this sacrifice may be not in vain”.
That is why to you, dear brothers, I say: remain faithful. Imitate Mary in all her virtues by placing at the centre in these hard and difficult times, as the first virtue, that of fidelity. Remain faithful to Christ and to Mary, just as Mary remained faithful to her Jesus. Once the hand is laid on the plough, no one who looks back is fit for the kingdom of God (Lk 9:62). Here the Father has given us his Kingdom (Rev 21:1-4; 21:22-27), a Kingdom of peace and love that will find its fulfilment at the time established by the Father, that now already is.
For this I say to you, dear brothers and dear sisters, in this new beginning: remain faithful whatever it takes; offer your everyday living and your life to the Father’s Heart. Do not deny what the Father has given you; do not deny what the brother Jesus has given us at such great cost: the gift of eternal Life. Remain faithful, whatever the cost. And the Father, in His infinite mercy, will give us everything we need, to make us happy for eternity. And the Father, in His infinite justice, will not be lacking in intervening to give justice to His sons, to stop the hand of the executioners; to stop those who say they are Christians only in words, those who pretend to honour Mary by going around as pilgrims, pretending to honour Her on this day, but in reality having different feelings in their hearts: feelings of those who do not love Mary, of those who do not love the sons of Mary; because whoever loves Mary’s sons, whoever loves Mary, takes action with strength, not by deceit.
Here is our desire on this day to once again imitate the virtues of Mary after having consecrated ourselves to her Heart, wanting to look to God’s Maiden as our living example, She who has imitated the virtues of Mary Most Holy like no other has done. We want to imitate her obedience, we want to imitate her purity, we want to imitate her humbleness and above all her holiness, in order to be able to welcome Baby Jesus in our hearts, just as Her who became a living Cradle and has welcomed the Child Jesus, giving thus the Father the possibility to send his Son down again and to ratify his Covenant, the last and eternal Covenant, with this Church, which will bring the sons of Christ and of Mary to the victory. This is said and this will be.
And so be it.
