Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary [8 December]

Biblical texts: Gn 3:9–20; Ep 1:3–12; Lk 1:26–38 May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! Instead of commenting on the readings, I propose a theological and spiritual meditation on the Immaculate Conception, starting with St Paul and referring to the tradition of the Church and the liturgy.

1. Saint Paul and Mary: a hidden but real bond Although Paul speaks almost nothing directly about the Virgin Mary, his teaching on the election, holiness and predestination of Christians (Eph 1:4-11) deeply illuminates the mystery of Mary. Saint Paul affirms that all the baptised are chosen, holy and immaculate. Applying this to Mary, we understand that what is true for the whole Church is realised in her in a perfect and anticipated way.

2. The mystery of the Church sheds light on the mystery of Mary In the development of theology, especially in the early centuries, Mary was understood in relation to the Church: Mary is what the Church is called to become. What is partial in us is perfect in her. She is 'the first on the journey': first in time, first in perfection. Mary is 'first' in two senses: chronologically first to welcome Christ, first to share in his Passion, first to enter into glory with body and soul. Qualitatively: no one welcomed Christ with greater purity, love and freedom. Her unique grace does not separate her from us, but manifests what God wants to accomplish in the whole Church. The Immaculate Conception is not an isolated privilege, but the full realisation of the vocation of every Christian: Mary is preserved from sin in view of Christ's merits. We are saved from sin through Christ's merits (baptism, sacraments, conversion). The trajectories are the same; in Mary they are only anticipated and brought to perfection thanks to her total obedience and total abandonment to God's will: Mary did not do the divine will but lived entirely in God's will. Herein lies the key to her life: tempted like everyone else, including Jesus, she defeated Satan by choosing to live always and completely in the Father's will, and for this reason she is now a sign of sure hope for us all.

3. Why is Mary Immaculate? The reason is profoundly simple: to be truly the Mother of God. To love Jesus for what he really is — true God and true man — Mary had to be totally free from sin, totally open to love, capable of welcoming God without hindrance. The Immaculate Conception is a gift of love: God formed her this way out of love for his Son and for us, so that Mary might become the Mother of the Saviour and the Mother of the Church. St John Damascene writes: "As Eve cooperated in the fall, Mary cooperated in the redemption: immaculate, she brought life to the one who was to give life to the world." And St Bartholomew Longo, recently canonised, observes: "The Immaculate Conception is not just a title, but a living mystery: God created her entirely pure to make her the Mother of the Redeemer."

4. Mary precedes us to show us our destiny. Mary does not crush, humiliate or distance us: she shows us what we will be in glory; she is a foretaste of what the Church will become; her holiness is a promise of ours. In her we see the goal of Christian life. Mary freely receives the angel's announcement and her "fiat" opens the door to salvation. Today, too, the Church, like Mary, is called to proclaim Christ, to bring his love into the world, to say her "yes" in history. God needs our hands, our eyes, our arms, our hearts: like Mary, we are called to be bearers of light, and we can be so to the extent that God's will lives in us as the protagonist of our entire existence.

5. What does it mean to be “immaculate” today? For us, it does not mean being without sin, but welcoming God’s action in our lives. It means living open to grace, saying our daily “yes”, allowing ourselves to be purified and transformed by the Spirit, becoming transparent in order to show Christ in the world. The Immaculate Conception thus becomes a vocation and a journey. "The truth about the Immaculate Conception seemed the most difficult for me to accept... when I finally accepted it, everything became clear: my faith found meaning." (Testimony reported on the website CatholicConvert.com in the story of Delores, a woman who recounts her conversion to Catholicism).

Important points to remember: +Mary is understood starting from the Church: what is true for all the baptised is perfect in her. +Immaculate because she is the Mother of God: in order to love her Son fully, she had to be totally free from sin. +"First on the journey": first in time and in the quality of love and holiness. +Her grace is promised to us: what she already lives, the Church and Christians will live fully in glory. +Shared predestination: Mary is preserved from sin; we are saved from sin. +Mary's "fiat" as a model: God calls, but waits for our freedom; the yes opens the way to mission. +Being immaculate today: it means welcoming God, allowing ourselves to be purified, becoming transparent to his light. +Mary takes nothing away from God: she is the "echo of God"; to venerate her is to honour God's work in her. +Mary points to our destiny: in her we see what God wants to accomplish in each of us. +The Immaculate Conception is a gift of love: from God to Mary and from Mary to the world.

*Here is a very brief historical summary of the main medieval defenders of the Immaculate Conception: St. Albert the Great (1200-1280) – Dominican theologian; open to the idea of Mary's preservation from original sin, but without defining it definitively. St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) – Dominican theologian; he argued that Mary was redeemed 'after original sin', therefore not immaculate from conception. Duns Scotus (1266-1308) – Franciscan theologian; main defender of the Immaculate Conception. Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment, thanks to the merits of Christ anticipated by God. William of Ockham (1287-1347) – Franciscan; supporter of Scotus' position, albeit with some philosophical nuances. Scotus' central idea: Mary immaculate from the moment of conception, preserved by God's grace thanks to the future merits of Christ, anticipating the official dogma defined in 1854.

+ Giovanni D'Ercole

Second Sunday of Advent (year A) [7 December 2025]

May God bless us and may the Virgin protect us! From this Sunday onwards, in addition to the summary of the most important elements of each reading, I will add a brief commentary on the Gospel by a Father of the Church.

*First Reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah (11:1-10)

Isaiah speaks of the root of Jesse and refers to the descendants of King David. Jesse had eight sons, but God chose Samuel not to choose the strongest or the eldest, but the youngest: David, the shepherd, who became the greatest king of Israel. From that moment on, Jesse became the progenitor of a dynasty often represented as a tree destined for a great future, which would never die. The prophet Nathan promised David that his descendants would reign forever and bring unity and peace to the people. But in history, the kings of his lineage did not fully keep these promises. However, it is precisely from disappointments that a stronger hope arises: if God has promised, then it will come to pass. How did the idea of the Messiah come about? The term 'messiah' (in Hebrew mashiach = 'anointed') originally referred to any king, because he was 'anointed' with oil on the day of his coronation. Over time, however, the word 'messiah' took on the meaning of 'ideal king', the one who brings justice, peace and happiness. When Isaiah says, 'A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse', it means that even if David's dynasty seems like a dead tree, God can bring forth a new shoot, an ideal king: the Messiah, who will be guided by the Spirit of the Lord. The seven gifts of the Spirit, symbols of fullness, will rest upon him: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord, which is not fear but trust and respect as a son. The Messiah will rule as God wills: with justice and faithfulness, and his task will be to wage war on injustice: He will judge the poor with justice... not according to appearances... he will put an end to wickedness with the breath of his lips. 'The wicked' does not refer to a person, but to wickedness itself, like saying 'waging war on war'. Isaiah describes a world where the wolf lives with the lamb, the child plays without fear, there is no more violence or conflict. It is not a return to paradise on earth, but the final fulfilment of God's plan, when the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth. The root of Jesse will be a sign for all peoples, and the Messiah concerns not only Israel but all nations. Jesus himself will take up this idea: "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself" (Jn 12:32). Isaiah preaches in the eighth century BC, at a time of political pressure and threats from neighbouring empires. The tree of David seems to be dead, but Isaiah urges us not to lose hope. The "animal fable" uses symbols to speak of human beings, as La Fontaine would do many centuries later, and constitutes a promise of peace, brotherhood and universal reconciliation. Martin Luther King, in his "I have a dream" speech, drew direct inspiration from these images used by Isaiah (cf. 11:2): a world where justice and brotherhood overcome violence.

The central theme can be summed up in one sentence: From the seemingly dead trunk of David's dynasty, God is so faithful that, when all seems lost, he revives his promise from a fragment, from a stump: hope is born precisely where man can no longer see anything. God will raise up a Messiah guided by the Spirit, who will fight injustice and bring universal peace to all peoples. God is faithful, and even from a dead trunk he can bring forth new life. It is messianic peace, the final reconciliation of creation. There are times when we too feel like a cut tree: failures, disappointments, repeated sins, broken relationships, projects that do not come to fruition, communities that seem to be losing strength. Isaiah announces: God is not finished with you either, and even where you see no future, He sees a sprout. Continue to hope, because God sees sprouts where we see only dry wood.

*Responsorial Psalm (71/72, 1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17)

Psalm 71/72 is a prayer that arose after the Babylonian exile, at a time when there was no longer a king in Israel. This means that the psalm no longer speaks of an earthly ruler, but of the king promised by God: the Messiah. Since it is God who promises him, his fulfilment is certain. The entire Bible is permeated with an indestructible hope: history has meaning and direction, and God has a plan of happiness for humanity. This plan takes on different names (the Day of the Lord, the Kingdom of Heaven, the benevolent plan), but it is always the same: like a lover who repeats words of love, God tirelessly proposes his plan of salvation.

This plan is announced from the beginning, in the vocation of Abraham (Gen 12:3): 'All the families of the earth shall be blessed in you'. The revelation is therefore universal from the outset. Israel is chosen not to manage a privilege, but to be a service and a sign for all peoples. The psalm takes up this promise: in the Messiah, all nations will be blessed and will call him blessed. It also takes up the other promise made to Abraham (Gen 15:18), namely the gift of the land "from the river of Egypt to the great river". Echoing this, the psalm says: "He shall rule from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth." The book of Sirach (Sir 44:21) confirms this reading, linking together universal blessing, multiplication of descendants and extended inheritance. Although today the idea of a universal ruler may seem far removed from democratic sensibilities, and indeed there is fear of the imposition of a hidden world authority that would dominate the whole of humanity, the Bible reminds us that every ruler is only an instrument in the hands of God, and what matters is the people, considering the whole of humanity as one vast people, and the psalm announces a pacified humanity: In those days, justice will flourish, great peace until the end of time, poverty and oppression defeated. The dream of justice and peace runs through the entire Scripture: Jerusalem means 'city of peace'; Deuteronomy 15 states that there will be no more poor people. The psalm fits into this line: the Messiah will help the poor who cry out, the weak without help, the miserable who have no defence. The prayer of the psalm does not serve to remind God of his promises, because God does not forget. Instead, it serves to help man learn to look at the world through God's eyes, remember his plan and find the strength to work towards its realisation. Justice, peace and the liberation of the poor will not come about magically: God invites believers to cooperate, allowing themselves to be guided by the Holy Spirit with light, strength and grace.

Important points to remember: +Psalm 72 is messianic: written when there were no more kings, it announces the Messiah promised by God.+History has meaning: God has a plan of happiness for all humanity.+The promises to Abraham are the foundation: universal blessing and inheritance without borders.+The Messiah will be God's instrument, serving the people and not power.+The world to come will be marked by justice, peace and an end to poverty. +Prayer is not meant to convince God, but to educate us: it opens our eyes to God's plan. Peace and justice will also come through human commitment guided by the Spirit.

Second Reading from the Letter of Saint Paul to the Romans (15:4-9)

Saint Paul writes to the Romans: 'Everything that was written before us was written for our instruction... so that we may keep hope alive'. This sentence is the key to reading the entire Bible: Scripture exists to enlighten, liberate and give hope. If a text seems obscure or difficult, it simply means that we have not yet fully understood it: the Good News is always present and we must dig to find it, as if it were a hidden treasure. Scripture nourishes hope because it proclaims on every page a single plan of God: that "merciful design" which is the great love story of God with humanity. The entire Bible, from the Old to the New Testament, has only one subject: the plan of salvation and communion that God wants to realise in the Messiah. Paul then moves on to a concrete theme: the Christians in Rome were divided. There were two groups: Christians who came from Judaism and were still attached to Jewish religious and dietary practices, and Christians who came from paganism and considered such observances outdated. This diversity gave rise to discord, mutual judgement and suspicion. Liturgical and cultural differences became real conflicts. This situation is very similar to the tensions that exist even today in the Church between different sensibilities. Paul does not propose dividing the community into two separate groups. Instead, he proposes the path of cohabitation, the building of peace, patience and mutual tolerance, inviting everyone to seek what promotes peace and what builds up the community. Let each one seek the good of the other, and may 'the God of perseverance and consolation' grant you to live in harmony according to Christ. The fundamental principle is: 'Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you'. Paul recalls that Christ took upon himself the mission of the Servant of God announced by Isaiah: chosen and elected by God, formed every morning by the Word, giver of his own life, bringer of salvation to all nations. Christ, by dying and rising again, united the Jews, saved in continuity with their Covenant, and the pagans, saved by God's gratuitous mercy. For this reason, no one can claim superiority; rather, everything is grace, everything is a gift from Christ, and true worship is this: to overcome the past, to recognise the gift received, to welcome one another without distinction, to sing together of God's faithfulness and mercy.

Important elements to remember: +Scripture exists to give hope. Every page of the Bible is Good News. If we do not find liberation, we have not yet understood the text. + The Bible proclaims a single plan. God's "providential plan" is to bring humanity to communion and salvation through the Messiah. +Paul corrects a divided community: In Rome, there were tensions between Christians of Jewish and pagan origin. Practical and cultural differences created judgements and conflicts. The Christian solution is not to separate. Paul proposes cohabitation, patience, and mutual edification. The community is a 'building' that must be constructed with peace and tolerance. +The model is Christ the Servant who united everyone: Jews and pagans. No one can boast: everything is grace. +The watchword: welcome: Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. The Church is alive when it overcomes divisions and lives mercy.

*From the Gospel according to Matthew (3:1-12)

When John the Baptist begins his preaching, Judea has been under Roman rule for 90 years, Herod is in power but deeply hated; religious currents are divided and confused; there are collaborators, resisters, false prophets, messianic agitators. The people are tired and disoriented, and it is in this climate that the preaching of John, who lives in the desert of Judea (between Jerusalem and the Jordan), begins. Matthew insists on the spiritual meaning of the desert: he recalls the Exodus, the Covenant, purification, the loving relationship between God and Israel (Hosea) and sees the desert as the place of return to truth and decision. In John, everything recalls the great prophets: he wears camel's hair, eats locusts and honey, and lives an ascetic lifestyle. Many consider him the possible return of Elijah, awaited to prepare for the coming of God (Malachi 3:23). His preaching has a double prophetic tone: sweet and comforting for the humble; harsh and provocative for the proud. The expression "brood of vipers" is not a personal insult, but a way of saying, "you are following the logic of the tempting serpent," and is therefore an invitation to change one's attitude. John invites everyone to make a righteous discernment in their lives: what is healthy remains, what is corrupt is eliminated. And to be incisive, he uses strong images: fire burning straw (a reference to the prophet Malachi), a sieve separating wheat from chaff, a threshing floor where the choice is made - and this is the meaning: everything in us that is death will be purified; everything that is authentic will be saved and preserved. It is a liberating judgement, not a destructive one. John announces Jesus: 'I baptise you with water, but the one who comes after me... will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire'. Only God can give the Spirit, and so John implicitly affirms the divinity of Jesus. The images used: 'Stronger than me' is a typical attribute of God. "I am not worthy to carry his sandals or untie his sandals": with this he recognises Jesus' divine dignity. Although he is a teacher followed by disciples, John puts himself in the second row; he recognises Jesus' superiority and paves the way for the Messiah. His greatness consists precisely in making room. Matthew shows him as a "voice in the desert" with reference to Isaiah 40:3, also linked to Elijah (2 Kings 1:8; Malachi 3:23), in the line of prophets to introduce Jesus as God present and judge. Chapters 3-4 of Matthew are a hinge: here begins the preaching of the Kingdom.

Important elements to remember: +John appears in a context of oppression and moral confusion: his word brings light and discernment. +The desert is a place of new covenant, truth and conversion. +John presents himself with prophetic signs (clothing, food, style) reminiscent of Elijah. +His preaching is twofold: consolation for the little ones, provocation for those who are sure of themselves. +Judgement is internal, not against categories of people: it purifies the evil in each person. Fire does not destroy man, but what is dead in him: it is a fire of love and truth. +Jesus accomplishes purification by baptising in the Holy Spirit, something that only God can do, and John recognises the divinity of Jesus with gestures of great humility. +The greatness of the Precursor lies in stepping aside to make room for the Messiah, and Matthew places him as a bridge between the Old and New Covenants, inaugurating the preaching of the Kingdom.

St John Chrysostom – Commentary on Matthew 3:1-12

'John appears in the desert not by chance, but to recall the ancient path of Israel.

Israel was educated in the desert, and now conversion begins again in the desert. His rough clothing and simple food show that he is free from all vanity, like Elijah. For this reason, the people, tired of the leaders of the time, flock to him: they see in John a truthful man who does not seek glory but leads to the truth." Chrysostom then explains the prophetic and moral content of John's preaching: By calling them a 'brood of vipers', he is not insulting them, but shaking them up so that they realise the poison that corrupts them. He does not attack people, but the evil that possesses them.

The judgement he announces is not against men, but against their evil deeds: fire burns guilt, not human nature." And regarding the announcement of the Messiah: "By saying, 'One more powerful than I is coming after me,' John does not compare himself to another man, but to God. For only God is said to be the Strong One. And when he adds, 'He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit', he openly confesses that the One who is coming has divine power. For this reason, he declares that he is not even worthy to untie his sandals: not because he despises himself, but because he recognises the greatness of Christ." Finally, Chrysostom interprets the mission of the Precursor:

"His greatness consists in diminishing so that Christ may grow. He is the voice that prepares the Word; he is the bridge that connects the Old Covenant to the New. He shows that all that the prophets awaited is now fulfilled: the King is near, and the Kingdom begins."

+Giovanni D'Ercole

In the Annunciation

(Gen 3:9-15.20; Lk 1:26-38)

A great theologian of the Mystical Body wrote: «At dawn there is a wonderful moment: the one that immediately precedes the sunrise [...] the light has been growing, slowly at the beginning, then faster» (É. Mersch).

The ecclesial Faith announces and transmits in Mary ‘Most Holy’ a specific style, a Faith and Hope well denoted in Scripture.

She prorupting and freed, not alienated; independent of “night”, not embarrassed.

Capable of passing from the God of fathers to the Father. Son’s God.

Dawn after dawn, story after story, genesis after genesis, moving house after moving, she lived decisively a kind of ‘spirituality of the rising dawn’. And confidence over time.

When a question mark was coming, she realized it was time to ask herself and give answers.

She sensed the Opportunity to rise again: all Fruitful and without losing motivation, thanks to a paradoxical Alliance, with the limits and emotional burdens.

When a labor broke in, she understood that those waves invaded life not to destroy, but to move a sea of reflows, perhaps still too calm.

She didn’t dream of stemting or blocking that tide. She internalized the restlessness of doubts as a great moment of life.

A Happiness that came from innovation. Like a Presence.

Instead of feeling constrained, she paused on every case, to ask herself: «What do I still have to learn, from this?».

Perhaps she understood that inside her usual figure there was a woman capable of transgression - in the sense of feeling called to overturn all the ancient and artificial that didn’t correspond to her.

This is how she began, by accepting the Invitation: by housing in herself and give space to an unnameable Eternal, believed to be absolutely transcendent and never to be mixed with the flesh!

Not just a sacrilege, but heresy. Yet in the Mother of God the paradoxical heterodoxy comes as it were swept beyond.

His spirituality was cleared of the real great "stain": the inability to correspond to the personal Announcement.

«Too bad! Such a pity» «Sin! What a shame!» - it is precisely said of a lost opportunity: it’s the decrease of Uniqueness that we are in.

Pearl that every day could yield its uniqueness to the normalizing and sliced outline of common opinion, narrowing the space, the vital wave.

The divine call of every moment directed elsewhere Mary’s dreams and her innate knowledge - antechamber of trust.

In the Covenant of Root and Seed, decisions were not and did not remain poor: without brain burdens the Mother of God went directly to new possibilities, and to the end.

In this form she lived and weaved a sort of «spirituality of the rising sun». Recall of every moment, in the joy of changing herself and things; or in the happiness of living them like this - even by leaving everything.

While growing up, she did not age of uncertainties, because she tuned her destiny forward - saying Yes to what it faced - and instinctively even today we consider her Young.

She knew how to be with the contradictions of the environment subject to the ancient devotion, and with the unexpected waves, as with the eccentricity of the Son.

Mary cared for Him by being ‘present’, in simple everyday gestures. She relied only on the happy energy that surfaced all moments, and inhabited her.

She immersed herself in the minimal expressions of gestures with her gaze on the now, for a clear action.

Inadequate to the miracle but herself, while working thoroughly, she did not squeeze to the bone, like a torn-up person on her last legs - because she was able to get back into play. This is why she knew the dialogue with the most feared and suffered feeling: loneliness.

But even in the dark she regenerated, welcoming and coming out of it by strengthening the germs of change - feeding in the soul a sort of magical garden.

Always off track, the Immaculate has overcome all prejudices.

[Immaculate Conception, December 8]

In the Annunciation

(Gen 3:9-15.20; Lk 1:26-38)

A great theologian of the Mystical Body wrote: "At dawn there is a stupendous moment: that which immediately precedes the rising of the sun [...] the light has been growing, slowly at first, then more quickly" (É. Mersch, vol.I).

The ecclesial Faith announces and transmits in the all holy Mary a specific style, Faith and Hope, well denoted in Scripture.

Prorompent and enfranchised, not alienated; independent of 'night', not embarrassed.

Able to move from the God of the fathers to the Father. God of the Son.

The reassuring tradition of the feeble, almost dreamy Mother has its own considerable strength - it must be admitted: the intention to represent the nobility of a creature in balance.

Yet in the Gospels she is characterised by a surprising emancipation.

Even so, Mary remains an icon of the praying and authentic People, of the soul bride, of the friendly Church.

Relational, generous person and community, qualified by a dignity in the Spirit that is not exclusive, but at hand, personalising.

Dawn after dawn, affair after affair, genesis after genesis, move after move, he lived decisively - instant by instant - a kind of 'spirituality of the dawning dawn'. And trust in time.

This was his veracious and reflective (rather than withdrawn and pensive) foothold.

Despite the alarms, toils and dangers, strangely for us, she did not develop a sense of emptiness, nor did she allow herself to be conditioned or appalled by the perception of being watched and judged.

When a question mark came, she understood that it was time to ask and give answers.

She sensed the Opportunity to rise again: all Blind and without losing motivation, thanks to a paradoxical Alliance with emotional limits and burdens.

When labour broke through, she understood that those waves invaded life not to destroy, but to stir up a sea of ebbs that was perhaps still too calm.

In this way, she overlooked both the issues and the stasis: they would anchor her to the usual form of being and thinking - to the rushed, identified world, without imagination (and therefore more insecure).

She did not dream of stemming or blocking the tide, the Newness, the vital energy of Providence, even though the Calling by Name burst forth in a violent manner. To raise it to a new Easter.

She internalised the restlessness of doubts as a great moment of life, an incarnated Call that reminded her that there is Other.

She read her anxieties, welcoming and interpreting them, in order to overcome them.

In such an approach to events, the Virgin regenerated - and within her a subtle joy arose; that of the all beautiful dawn that rises.

First glow of a rising sun.

A Happiness hers that came from innovation. Like a Presence.

Secret side that makes creatures' lives take off, and fly over the issues that bridle the soul.

Instead of feeling constrained, she paused over each case, to ask herself: "What more do I have to learn, from this?".

In this way she was able to focus her days not on projects, but on the qualities and predispositions, even of family members - spending them well.

Perhaps she understood that within her usual figure was a woman capable of religious transgression - in the sense of feeling called to overturn all the old and artificial that did not correspond to her.

So she began, accepting the Invitation: to house within herself and give space to an Eternal then imagined unnameable, believed to be absolutely transcendent and that would never mix with the flesh!

Not just a sacrilege, but total heresy. But in the Mother of God the paradoxical heterodoxy [all our own and horizontal] is as if swept aside.

Her spirituality was cleared of the truly great 'stain': the inability to correspond to the personal Annunciation.

"Sin" - it is said of a missed opportunity: it is the flexing of the Oneness that we are within.

A pearl that every day can surrender its exceptionality to the normalising and slicing contour of common opinion, shrinking the space, the vital wave.

The divine call of each moment directed Mary's dreams and her innate knowledge elsewhere - the antechamber of trust.

In the Covenant of Root and Seed, decisions were not and did not remain poor: without cerebral burdens, the Mother of God went directly to new possibilities, and to the end.

In this Form she lived and wove a kind of "spirituality of the rising sun". She called for every moment, in the joy of changing herself and things; that is, in the happiness of living them that way - even of leaving everything behind.

Even as she grew up, she did not grow old with uncertainties, because she tuned her destiny forward - saying Yes to whatever came her way - and instinctively, even today, we consider her Young.

She knew how to be with the contradictions of the environment subject to the ancient devotion, and with the unexpected storms, as with the eccentricity of her Son. 

He cared for it by being 'present', in simple everyday gestures. He relied only on the happy energy that surfaced every moment, and inhabited it.

She immersed herself in the minimal expressions of gestures with her gaze on the now, for clear action.

Inadequate to the miracle but herself, occupying herself did not exhaust - because she was capable of putting herself back into play. That is why she knew the dialogue with the most feared and suffered feeling: loneliness.

But even in the darkness she regenerated, welcoming it and coming out of it reinforcing the germs of change - nurturing a kind of magic garden in the soul.

Always off the rails, Immaculata overcame all prejudices.

Annunciation: how to enter the realm of the soul

From Religion to Faith, from barren to Beloved

The solemnity of the moment that restores the soul to the Mystery invites a wave upon wave: from the religion of the Temple to the domestic and personal Faith.

From the outside to within ourselves. From the models to the prophecy of the innate. Unique promise, more subtle condition.

Faith-faith - that of Mother - which shows the freedom and beauty of the new orientations, in the progression of the inner image-guides.

Covenant no longer for what is already known.

Her Covenant is all in the Openness to the Inexplicable that inhabits us. Intimate Eternal, which can now concretise the hope and journey of peoples. A turning point of authenticity, growing.

If the virgins of the heart make no demands, the Calling by Name (from our own fibres) uncovers the incapable and barren soul.

Ad coeli Reginam: Silent Echo... such an invisible nucleus-Vocation makes one wince. And with spontaneous virtue introduces the spirit into the fruitful synergy of God himself.

Spousal trust that reknots the threads of Salvation history: and contrasts with the broad road of alliances with people 'who matter'.

In the interweaving of the fruitful Initiative and our welcoming into our bosom, the Handmaid is an icon of each one's waiting and journey - where what remains decisive is not the usual, predictable desire.

A vibrant call that is prolonged in history, in a kind of unfolded and continuous Incarnation, thanks to the collaboration of distant, shaky and insignificant servants, like Mary.

Also ours, despite still being filled with normal expectations.

To internalise and live the message:

Which Words open us up to life in the Spirit and challenge the expected path?

What is our still in-between, unencountered zone?

How to realise the invisible Seed

Says the Tao Tê Ching (LXI): "The great realm that is held below, is the confluence of the world; it is the female of the world. The female always conquers the male with stillness, for she cheerfully submits to it. Therefore, the great realm that is below the little realm, attracts the little realm; the little realm that is below the great realm, attracts the great realm: the one lowers to attract, the other attracts because it is low. Let not the great kingdom exceed, lusting to feed and to unite others; let not the small kingdom exceed, lusting to be accepted and to serve others. That each one may obtain what he covets, the great should keep low.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

Today, we celebrate one of the most beautiful and popular feasts of the Blessed Virgin: the Immaculate Conception. Not only did Mary commit no sin, but she was also preserved from original sin, the common legacy of the human race. This is due to the mission for which God had destined her from eternity: to be the Mother of the Redeemer. All this is contained in the truth of faith of the "Immaculate Conception". 

The biblical foundation of this Dogma is found in the words the Angel addressed to the young girl of Nazareth: "Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you!" (Lk 1: 28). "Full of grace" - in the original Greek, kecharitoméne - is Mary's most beautiful name, the name God himself gave to her to indicate that she has always been and will always be the beloved, the elect, the one chosen to welcome the most precious gift, Jesus: "the incarnate love of God" (Deus Caritas Est, n. 12). We might ask: why exactly did God choose from among all women Mary of Nazareth? The answer is hidden in the unfathomable mystery of the divine will. 

There is one reason, however, which is highlighted in the Gospel: her humility. Dante Alighieri clearly emphasizes this in the last Hymn of Paradise: "Virgin Mother, daughter of your Son, lowly and exalted more than any creature, the fixed goal of eternal counsel..." (Paradise, XXXIII, 1-3). In the Magnificat, her canticle of praise, the Virgin herself says: "My soul magnifies the Lord... because he looked upon his servant in her lowliness" (Lk 1: 46, 48). 

Yes, God was attracted by the humility of Mary, who found favour in his eyes (cf. Lk 1: 30). She thus became the Mother of God, the image and model of the Church, chosen among the peoples to receive the Lord's blessing and communicate it to the entire human family. 

This "blessing" is none other than Jesus Christ. He is the Source of the grace which filled Mary from the very first moment of her existence. She welcomed Jesus with faith and gave him to the world with love. This is also our vocation and our mission, the vocation and mission of the Church: to welcome Christ into our lives and give him to the world, so "that the world might be saved through him" (Jn 3: 17). 

Dear brothers and sisters, may today's Feast of the Immaculate Conception illuminate like a beacon the Advent Season, which is a time of vigilant and confident waiting for the Saviour. While we advance towards God who comes, let us look at Mary, who "shines forth..., a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God" (Lumen Gentium, n. 68).

[Pope Benedict, Angelus 8 December 2006]

1. Today we are celebrating the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast very dear to the Christian people. It fits in well with the Advent season and radiates the purest light on our spiritual journey to Christmas. 

Today we contemplate the humble girl of Nazareth who, by an extraordinary and ineffable privilege, was preserved from the contagion of original sin and from every fault, so that she could be a worthy dwelling-place for the Incarnate Word. In Mary, the New Eve, Mother of the New Adam, the Father's original, wondrous plan of love was re-established in an even more wondrous way. Therefore the Church gratefully acclaims:  "Through you, immaculate Virgin, the life we had lost was returned to us. You received a child from heaven, and brought forth to the world a Saviour" (Liturgy of the Hours, Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Saturday, Benedictus Antiphon). 

2. Today's liturgy once again presents the Gospel account of the Annunciation. In response to the Angel, the Virgin proclaims:  "Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word" (Lk 1: 38). Mary expresses her total assent of mind and heart to God's hidden will and prepares herself to receive the Son of God, first in faith and then in her virginal womb. 

"Behold!". Her prompt compliance with the divine will is a model for all of us believers, so that in great events, as well as in ordinary affairs, we will entrust ourselves entirely to the Lord. 

By the witness of her life, Mary encourages us to believe in the fulfilment of God's promises. She calls us back to the spirit of humility, the right interior attitude of the creature towards the Creator; she urges us to put our sure hope in Christ, who fulfils the divine plan, even when events seem obscure and are difficult to accept. As a shining Star, Mary guides our steps to the Lord who comes. 

3. Dear brothers and sisters! Let us turn our eyes to the Immaculate, all Holy and all Fair. May Mary, our Advocate, Mother of the "King of Peace", who crushes the serpent's head, help us, the men and women of the third millennium, to resist the seductions of evil; may she rekindle faith, hope and charity in our hearts, so that, faithful to our call and ready to make any sacrifice, we may be fearless witnesses to Jesus Christ, the Holy Door of eternal salvation.

[Pope John Paul II, Angelus 8 December 2000]

Today we celebrate the solemnity of Mary Immaculate, which takes place within the context of Advent, a time of expectation: God will accomplish what he promised. But on today’s feast day we are told that something has already been accomplished, in the person and the life of the Virgin Mary. Today we consider the beginning of this fulfilment, which is even before the birth of the Mother of the Lord. In fact, her immaculate conception leads us to that precise moment when Mary’s life began to palpitate in her mother’s womb: already there was the sanctifying love of God, preserving her from the contagion of evil that is the common inheritance of the human family.

In today’s Gospel the Angel’s greeting to Mary resounds: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” (Lk 1:28). God has always thought of her and wanted her in his inscrutable plan, to be a creature full of grace, that is, full of his love. Yet, in order to be filled it is necessary to make room, to empty oneself, to step aside. Just as Mary did, she who knew how to listen to the Word of God and trust totally in his will, accepting it unreservedly in her own life. So much so that the Word became flesh in her. This was possible thanks to her “yes”. To the Angel who asks her to be ready to become the mother of Jesus, Mary replies: “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38).

Mary does not lose herself in reasoning, she does not place obstacles in the Lord’s way, but she promptly entrusts herself and makes room for the action of the Holy Spirit. She immediately makes her whole being and her personal history available to God, so that the Word and the will of God may shape and bring them to fulfilment. Perfectly corresponding to God’s plan for her, Mary then becomes the “all beautiful”, the “all holy”, but without the slightest shadow of complacency. She is humble. She is a masterpiece, whilst remaining humble, small, poor. In her is reflected the beauty of God which is all love, grace, gift of self.

I would also like to underline the word with which Mary defines herself in her surrender to God: she professes herself “the handmaid of the Lord”. Mary’s “yes” to God takes on from the beginning the attitude of service, of attention to the needs of others. The visit to Elizabeth which immediately follows the Annunciation testifies this concretely. One’s availability to God is found in one’s willingness to take on the needs of one’s neighbour. All of this without clamour and ostentation, without seeking places of honour, without advertising, because charity and works of mercy needn’t be exhibited as a trophy. Works of mercy are done in silence, in secrecy, without boasting of doing them. Even in our communities, we are called to follow the example of Mary, practicing the style of discretion and concealment.

May the feast of our Mother help us to make our whole life a “yes” to God, a “yes” made of adoration of him and of daily gestures of love and service.

[Pope Francis, Angelus 8 December 2019]

(Is 11:1-10; Mt 3:1-12)

The Son of God who Comes «will not judge according to appearances and will not make decisions by hearsay» (Is. 11:3).

Thus the Church who bears witness to him.

But how is it possible in the society of the outside, not to be conditioned by dominant opinions?

Not by trying to reproduce the world around.

But attempting the principle of a renewal that can only be introduced from the Source of the Sense of self and the cosmos - then it will also flow out, and it will happen constantly.

Not... immediately with blush, plump lips, swollen cheekbones, leveling of furrows; nor with an overambitious "U-conversion".

Not a defibrating regression to external religion; rather, by settling inside, in that Force of the Logos in the heart.

So, in the Gospels the Greek term «metanoia» doesn’t indicate a return to the God of normalized worship; rather, a change of mentality.

The life of Faith is precisely marked by the reversal of the hierarchy of values, which is reflected in real choices.

New Testament Conversion is a reappropriation of himself, not as in devotions, but with a coup de main.

A leap forward which makes fruitful, green and happy the recovery of the whole Church that draws from its own Source.

A reconquest of the same Core that drags the whole reality.

God in the soul not only improves, but rises in Vital Fullness. He acts by refounding, and chisels our true Path.

First of all He flies over the established cliques. It would be useless to insist on environments and characters refractory to the novelty of the Spirit.

Thus, the Word-event goes to land on a visionary of the present and the future.

At less than twenty years old, John should have presented himself to the practitioners of the rite and the Law to be examined according to the purist norms of the Torah, in order to then officiate the cults at the Temple in Jerusalem.

But despite being of a priestly lineage, he rejected that formal, insensitive and corrupt environment - which he knew well.

In short, the choice and the figure of the Baptist is a Reminder for us: to the authentic Church it’s not enough to iron wrinkles.

Botulinum and creams do not scratch reality, but disturb the Essence.

The Prophet felt young and alive precisely because he had not wanted to resemble, match at all costs, be identifiable, repeat opinions - nor did he limit himself to a remediation of the situation.

He didn't want to die out. He wanted to stare his gaze not on the big signs, but at his own (and others’) attitudes.

For us too, the "destiny" that belongs to us lurks in that daily impetus to want to do something creative and personal, unpublished and drawn only from the Core of our waves, rippling, many faces.

Advent [the Coming] thus proposes to us that Call of the Roots which opens the way - so that we may achieve something that is not habitual, but belongs to us.

We will be «shoots that sprout» not slumped, on the contrary that «rise to banner for the multitudes» because kidnapped and placed on this Ray of unusual «knowledge of the Lord that will fill the earth».

Counter-exodus of John the Baptist, counter-exodus of Jesus

Retracing the crossing of the Jordan.

Epistrèphein: Conversion is, in the ancient mindset, 'turning around', 'going back' (Hebrew Shùb) [because the people have strayed from God, from the Temple, from the Fathers].

In the Second Testament, the term is only Metanoein:

For the Baptist, conversion [already in the sphere of «metanoein»] does not have a specifically religious, liturgical or doctrinal meaning, but rather an existential one: it means, for example, putting an end to social injustices.

But according to Jesus' new preaching, Conversion has a broader and more central meaning. Christ proposes a new vision of God himself, of his Heart - and therefore of authentic man and society.

While the «brood of vipers' continues to inject its venom... here instead is the «Beautiful Fruit», complete and full, of this new tree (v. 10).

The CEI '74 translation proposed “good fruits” [which has another meaning, linked to morality, simplistic]. Now it is “good fruit”, which is perhaps halfway there.

«Beautiful Fruit» is Love; the product of the Fire of the Spirit [Gal 5:22: love, joy, peace, magnanimity, benevolence, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control].

This Fire is no longer an external element. No longer an extrinsic power. It comes from within.

Like the Action of the new Waters, now Joyful, which are assimilated not for the purpose of cleansing and purifying, but for growth.

A Flame yes, that burns away all evil - without, of course, making a «clean sweep».

Not spiritual life: Life in the Spirit!

A completely different specific weight, a completely different Breath.

Counter-exodus of the Baptist: sometimes we stopped there.

Counter-exodus of Jesus: Life in the Spirit.

[2nd Advent Sunday (year A), December 7, 2025]