The Holy House of Loreto is not only a “relic”, but also a precious and true “icon”. It is an “icon” not of abstract truths, but of an event and a mystery: the Incarnation of the Word.

“When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born of woman”. Mary is that Woman. She is, so to speak, the “space” both physical and spiritual in which the Incarnation took place. But even the House in which she lived is a tangible reminder of the reality of this mystery.

Behind that altar, St Josemaria consecrated Opus Dei to our Mother. There is a tight space behind, entering the grilled door you see at the right.

 

The hidden life in there, reawakens in us the sense of holiness of the family, presenting a whole array of values, today so threatened, such as faithfulness, respect for life, the education of children, and prayer.

The Holy House recalls at the same time the greatness of the vocation to virginity for the Kingdom, and the gift of celibacy which had its glorious beginnings in the person of Mary, Virgin and Mother.

Here, we recognize the place of women in the Church and in society. Since God “sent his Son born of woman,” every woman was elevated, in Mary, to such a dignity greater than which no other can be conceived.

In addition, no theoretical consideration can ever exalt the dignity of human work more than the simple fact that the Son of God worked in this House and wanted to be called “son of the carpenter”.

And, about the “choice for the poor” The austere and humble walls of the Holy House visually remind us that God himself had inaugurated this choice in Mary.

Still on this theme of poverty and suffering, the sick have had a privileged place in the history of the Shrine. They were among the first to hasten as pilgrims to this House and to make it known to others. Where could they, moreover, be better welcomed, than in the House of Her whom precisely we invoke in the “Litany of Loreto” as “Health of the sick” and “Comforter of the afflicted”?

 

Christ, the light of all lights, follows John, the lamp that goes before him. The Word of God follows the Voice in the wilderness; the Bridegroom follows the bridegroom’s friend, who prepares a worthy people for the Lord by cleansing them by water in preparation for the Spirit.

We needed God to take our flesh and die for us, that we might live. We have died with him, that we may be purified. We have risen again with him, because we have died with him. We have been glorified with him, because we have risen again with him.

Thank you, Lord, for this privileged time to prepare ourselves to celebrate the event that marked history... and my history. God himself became incarnate in his Son, Jesus, to heal our original wound: that disobedience, that pride that turns us away from Love. May this Advent be my opportunity to bring Christ to those closest to me.

Illustration: The Holy House of Loreto and detail of the image of Our Lady.