Homily of H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti of March 26, 2007

ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE LORD
1st reading: Is 7:10-14, 8:10; Psalm 39; 2nd reading: Heb 10:4-10; Gospel: Lk 1:26-38

First of all I believe it is right as a community to apologize to Jesus the Eucharist because everything was not ready and in order. It is something that must no longer happen again: Jesus must not wait because of the fact that things have not been prepared. I was, believe me, deeply embittered. Furthermore, another thing must be clear: when the extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist are present, it is useless to ask whether the others should bring the candles; if there are extraordinary ministers of the Eucharist, it is up to you ministers to provide and do all this. What happened today is actually something that should not have happened. Many times, lately, Our Lady has done nothing but repeat: "Wake up from this sleep". Pay attention not to shut yourself up, do not just think about your small garden, do not delight yourself before Jesus the Eucharist, almost in ecstatic prayer, and then thinking of nothing else, because this is not our style. Ours is a style of love, respect and solicitude, so what has happened today, even if it seems to you a small thing, is instead, in my opinion, a serious lack regarding Jesus the Eucharist and must no longer happen again. Let’s not forget that Jesus the Eucharist is God, to Him goes the honor, Glory, respect, to Him goes the best of everything and of everyone and today we have not given it to Him. After this premise I am not exaggerating in saying that it cost me a lot because my heart is bleeding, but let’s come to today's feast, which I ardently wished it could have taken place in a more serene, more relaxed, more joyful climate, but unfortunately it is not so. We still have many problems and sufferings, difficulties are pressing in a particular way on two people, the Bishop and the seer and I am not hiding that, at times, we feel prostrated and losing heart under the weight of the cross. On the other hand Jesus fell several times under the weight of the cross, and His journey was not very long. Instead, ours is really long, too much I would say and humanly even unbearable. I think I can say that in the readings that have just been proclaimed, a small space, a small place, can be cut out for us too. The readings have been chosen in the right way, they would not even need an explanation because if you place them in a certain logical order you will have all the explanations, clearly and in detail. Let's start with the great promise, the sign Isaiah proclaimed: "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call Immanuel". You know that the Jews did not have, concerning the concept of virginity, a very high conception as it is today in the Church, even if, inside it, unfortunately, chastity and virginity are not very well practiced. For the Jews the choice of virginity was not definitive but it was a passage of life; according to the Jewish mentality, the culmination of every good was achieved in marriage, that is, with a married life, and the sign of God's blessing was to have several children. Therefore the sentence "a virgin will conceive and bear a child" was certainly not understood by the Jews for centuries just because of their mentality and their conception. It took about seven centuries for this concept to be clarified, "a virgin will give birth". The passage from the Gospel of Luke begins exactly by quoting the angel who was sent to a virgin, and here is the fulfillment of what had been prophesied seven centuries before. We talk about seven hundred years, do you realize it? Seven hundred years so that the word of God could be fulfilled in its fullness. This maid, who had made her virginity the final choice of her life, of her own existence, going even against the mentality and idea of ​​her people, married and, even if she was not yet living with her beloved husband, Joseph and Mary were legally husband and wife. But Mary's condition is that of virginity and Our Lady wants to remain a virgin, She has consecrated her virginity to God, so much so that when the angel proclaimed the announcement, Mary already knew everything; she knew that she would become the Mother of the Messiah, she knew that the Son she would have begotten and given birth would have been humiliated, persecuted, killed and would also be resurrected and ascended again to the glory that belonged to Him as He was God. You know that Our Lady already knew all this and I have also explained to you how, from the human point of view, listening to the angel saying her: "you will become mother" and Our Lady’s reply "I will always be a virgin", is a contradiction; yet, in Mary's situation virginity and motherhood perfectly coincide, they marvelously overlap and human logic is displaced, human mentality is totally set aside "How is it possible?" is the question Our Lady asks the angel and awaits for an answer, but this answer is not really addressed to her, she does not need it, because she already knows how she will become a mother. We must not forget that Our Lady had a continuous, incessant conversation with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She is the only creature who spoke with the Son even before He was generated in time. This is possible because we are talking about the Son of God, so that question "How is it possible, I do not know man" serves for the angel to be able to provide that explanation that the evangelists, in this specific case Luke, have inserted in the Gospel and as we read it now, as those before us who in time have read it, we can be made aware of the fact that Mary remained a virgin and became Mother for the work and power of the Holy Spirit, that is to say for an omnipotent intervention of God. When the angel says: "the power will come upon you", it refers to the power of God because everything is possible for God. So even this mystery of Mary's virginity and motherhood would not have been understood by the persons, relatives and all the people who lived at that time, so it remained further buried under silence and discretion because they would not have understood it. This is the reason and function of Joseph, to ensure that problems were not created and that everything was smooth, so men would not find in the power and in the portentous work of God a reason to refuse His works, as will happen many times and as has happened recently. God planned well what He had to do and realized it in the best way, so Mary was protected by Joseph. The child who was born was in fact considered the son of Joseph, Christ himself always treated and respected the father with such love and devotion as you can read in the book "Life of Our Lady". So here comes the great moment, something happening with such greatness that the creation itself is affected by the benefits while men hardly notice it. God is incarnate, God becomes man and the angel, the bearer of that great announcement, immediately kneels down because he knows that he is before the living tabernacle of God. We have always said it: the first great tabernacle, the most precious one that could welcome God is Mary’s most pure womb, the angel therefore is reverently on his knees and worships the second person of the Most Holy Trinity. But is it there present just the second person of the Most Holy Trinity? We know that where the Son is, the Father and the Holy Spirit are also present, so it is the Trinity that is present in Mary's small, humble room. All this happened in the silence and concealment, away from men; not even Joseph knows what happened at that moment, but he will come to know it later when he sees the incipient signs of motherhood. I hope you understand what I mean, it is not difficult for me to take you to reflect on other realities and works of God that took place silently. How many works of God took place silently in this place and men did not notice it or worse, when they noticed it they fought it, tried to bury it, to destroy it, they tried to smear it; but the benefit occurred all the same. As in the silence of Nazareth the illuminating portent takes place, giving life and hope to the world, so in the silence and humility of this place something happened that illuminated the whole world reverberating in wonderful, multicolored forms, for which men have felt that God is still present in the world and society. As the Magi and the shepherds were called by God and went towards the cave, men were called by God, and not by their own brethren, and were directed towards the Eucharist. This is why Our Lady initially wanted the feast of the Mother of the Eucharist, a feast so dear to our hearts, to fall exactly on this day, for the reasons I told you, because everything speaks about the Eucharist. The highest point we can see in the Letter to the Jews: "It is impossible to eliminate sins with the blood of animals" this is what Paul says. He explains that it is possible to eliminate sins with the blood shed by that body that was formed in Mary's womb, so the indissoluble union between Christ's sacrifice and Mary's motherhood is evident. Mary is essential in the plan of God, she is essential for the celebration of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and for the actualization of this sacrifice throughout the centuries, in every part of the world. This is why when we say Eucharist we must immediately think about the Mother of the Eucharist. These are Isaiah’s words that Paul repeats in his Letter, "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me". It is God who prepared this body because this body is realized through the work of the Holy Spirit; you can therefore understand the way in which the Word of God fits together and how clear the Word of God is and how slowly it leads us to the understanding of the great mysteries, the great realities and the great divine works. "I have come to do your will, my God" because the Incarnation is the consequence of an act of divine will. Man, on his own, could never purify himself from sin and guilt, an action of God was needed, an intervention of God was required and I say it again and underline, the action and work of God came from the presence and action of Our Lady. Mary who is virgin, Mary who is martyr, Mary who is both virgin and martyr at the same time, Mary who is also the Mother of the great martyr. This is the talk that must enter into your hearts and must be kept and form matter of reflection. I would like each of us to identify with the angel who knelt in adoration, I would like that in the angel we see each of us, I would like the angel to be the symbol of all humanity.