"The Nativity of the Virgin Mary", the consolation of humanity

Today we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lady Theotokos.

The Holy Fathers, neither with the natural ability they possessed, nor with the influence of the entire grace that resided in their souls, were able to honor her as she deserved, because in this Daughter a great mystery is enclosed. I will mention only one characteristic for your love, because if I attempt more, I will probably diminish her virtue.

A ray of sun, which acts on a point, fills it with light. A ray of grace acted on the souls of the saved at each time, whether Prophets, or Apostles, or Martyrs, or Saints, or Confessors, or generally justified people, friends of God, sanctified and completed them, so that they would become heirs of the promise, to enter the womb of theosis, to become gods by grace. In this Daughter, not only one ray of grace acted, but the whole fullness of the Godhead inhabited bodily. Yes, the whole fullness of the Godhead inhabited bodily permanently and not occasionally, and it transformed her together with the perfection of human nature, which she had in her character, which was neither born nor will be born, nor was a more perfect creature created. The Fathers say that if we place all creatures, visible and invisible, material and immaterial, human and angelic, near God, only the Virgin Mary will be preferred. No creature more perfect than her has been created or will be created. After this perfection, which her most holy soul contained, she also inherited theosis, because the fullness of the Godhead dwelled within her bodily. And why is this? To demonstrate God's love for man.

This, then, the Daughter had the power, with the completion of her personality, like a powerful magnet, to attract from the Father's bosom "the radiance of the Father's glory" and to clothe it with the humiliation of human nature, apart from sin, in order to save fallen man from the grip of death and to raise him to the bosom of the Fathers, until the "He Himself" boasts, saying that "I call you servants, because you are my friends." And to prove this, He turns to His Father and says: "Father, I want them to be where I am," for whose sake I borrowed their nature from this All-Pure Daughter.

Besides this, to the wisdom of all these perfections was added one more. That which shakes every heart: the center of all motherhood. What pain now does not find consolation? Who is sad now under the pressure of despair? Now there is and belongs to our nature the center of all motherhood. There was the center of all fatherhood in the supernatural God, but unattainable by us, untouched, incomprehensible, inaccessible, unimaginable. This Daughter drew from Him all the tenderness of paternal affection and became herself the mother of the universe. At the same time, she also opened the paternal bosoms, which due to the fall were closed to us.

I will not say more, for I fear lest I diminish her greatness. But, feeling her maternal affection, I cast off all my weakness and put on courage. I believe that all my weaknesses will be cast aside in the bosom of her maternal love. I will remind her of the weakness of our nature, which she did not know by nature through her perfection, but she knows it because of the law of attachment, because she is our mother and knows how to suffer for her own children. Within the bosom of her motherhood we will achieve all our promises. Within the bosom of her motherhood we will cast off all our fears and acquire the certainty of success. For she left God the Word from her embrace and delivered him to the Cross, so that he might seal for us immortality and eternity with his sacrifice and “make the two parts one” and become our Savior, so that he might confess that “whoever believes in me will never taste death” and “whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live”. Now she stands between heaven and earth and her right hand holds up and pulls down divine mercy authoritatively. For she is not only a Saint, she is not only a friend; she is a mother and she rules. And she has the other hand down to her other children, who are unable due to weaknesses and bend and sag. But she pulls from below upwards and connects the “two parts one”. Who will now despair? Who will now be in danger? Who now has questions? Nobody, absolutely nobody! But I said, if I continue, I will diminish her greatness.

I now come to another factor: To choose an allegory beyond the blessed hopes that divine grace inspires in our souls. We cannot hide our unnatural sinfulness with our many weaknesses. In such a stage and in such a whirlwind of these difficult days that we live in, we too resemble a barren woman who is discouraged that she too will become a mother. But here we see the example of the barren Anna, that “the things impossible with men are possible with God.” This is precisely what we find, investigating the mysteries of the all-goodness of our Jesus, who infallibly called us. This Savior of the world, whom this Virgin attracted with her holiness and forced him to descend into the valley of weeping, to find the lost not from afar through his divine power, but practically through the human nature which he deigned to wear. He gave us courage and said to us: "Do not fear, little flock, for to them it is my Father's good pleasure to give his kingdom."

So that no one loses courage. We have weaknesses. We have inexperience. We have a treacherous enemy, but we also have an all-good Savior. And we, with our barren souls, who according to our own plans imagine that we will not succeed in our goal, arm ourselves with the blessed hope of Him, who said: “I will be with you all the days” and “I will never leave you orphans” and we learn by experience that with patience and the right faith and perseverance towards Him, our barren souls also give birth. And not only do they give birth, but they give birth to elections, just as the barren Anna gave birth to one, but one par excellence, above all other creatures, visible and invisible.

We are today in this whirlwind, as we have described it, and the real guides have disappeared and we have been left orphans without direction. Sheep without a shepherd. The words are harsh but true. We feel the orphanhood more than any other generation. And not only that, but also from there, where we have often hoped for support, and from there we are disappointed. Now, therefore, it is logical to deal with this issue, in order to strengthen within us the blessed hope, "so that through patience and the comfort of the scriptures we may have hope," in order to continue our course without hindrance.

Last night we made a reference to the sacred words of Paul: “We had decided that our death sentence was inevitable.” Why? “Because we no longer trusted in our own strength but in the help of God, who raises the dead.”

In this whirlwind, the spiritual heatwave, we often lose our orientation, pressured by passions and weaknesses, ignorance and the rage of Satan because, says the Revelation, “the dragon was angry with the woman (that is, the Church) and went off to make war with the rest of her offspring,” and it gives us to understand that in a way he has won. These are the days we live in. But we will not say such a thing, that he has won over us. May it never happen! How can he win over us since the election is valid, and the election was made neither by an angel nor by a man, but by this God and Father? “No one comes,” he says, “unless my Father draws him.” Did you notice that? “Unless he draws him!”

(Transcript of speech)