December 22, 2025
Advent Feria
Fr. Diego Dalla Gassa
I am fr. Diego Dalla Gassa and I am currently in the fraternity that lives on Mount Tabor, at the Sanctuary of the Transfiguration of the Lord. It is beautiful for me to think about the mystery of the light that the Lord Jesus manifested throughout His entire life. We are now at the threshold of the celebration of the true Light that comes into the world. With the Gospel that we have just listened to, we are invited to perceive the song of the whole Church, which with a grateful spirit unites its voice to the voice of the Most Holy Mary. So it is also for us, if we think about it carefully: we too perceive the beauty of that night that is approaching; it is the melody of Christmas, it is the fascination of God’s song for humanity. Let us try to perceive the beauty and the trepidation and the many and infinite hearts that have dreamed, desired to encounter the King of kings.
We too, like the Magi, are attracted by this mystery of God who makes Himself small. All our faces are turned toward Bethlehem, the city of bread (literal meaning), in which the unnameable and great God makes Himself accessible to all and becomes good bread for us. It is wonderful and at the same time fascinating to perceive how the infinite God, the King of the universe, the Creator of heaven and earth, has bent down over our humanity, making Himself one of us: this is the mystery of the Incarnation. The immense becomes small, the inaccessible makes Himself known, the unnameable allows Himself to be called by Name, the ungraspable allows Himself to be taken into arms; it is our infinite God who decisively ‘limits’ Himself of His own free will in our human condition because He desires that we may return to Him, to Paradise!
All this recalls that prophecy of Isaiah that we will hear on Christmas night: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Is 9:1). In this verse there is talk of a ‘dark’ condition in which humanity lives and which then finds itself visited by a great light! For us, this great light is not abstract but has very precise features: the tender face of the Son of God. With the Most Holy Mary and Saint Joseph we contemplate the wonder of this mystery.
Let us make our own the prayer of Saint Francis who in one of his writings affirms: “O admirable height and stupendous condescension! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity, that the Lord of the universe, God and Son of God, so humbles Himself as to hide, for our salvation, under the small appearance of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God, and open your hearts before Him; humble yourselves also, that you may be exalted by Him. Therefore, keep nothing of yourselves for yourselves, so that He who gives Himself entirely to you may receive you entirely” (Letter to the Entire Order, FF: 221, 26–29).
May the Queen of Peace help us to welcome and contemplate this mystery of God who becomes Flesh; let us give thanks to Him for such benevolence toward us. Let us intercede for our humanity in need of the true God.
