0
0
Pope Leo’s Homily for Mass of the Vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Genazzano, Shrine of Mother of Good Counsel – Monday, 7 September 2026
First reading: Micah 5:1-4
Now you are walled about with a wall; siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel.
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in travail has brought forth;
then the rest of his brethren shall return to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 12(13):6-7
Lord, I trust in your merciful love.
Let my heart rejoice in your saving help.
I exult for joy in the Lord.
Let me sing to the Lord for his goodness to me, singing psalms to the name of the Lord, the Most High.
I exult for joy in the Lord
Gospel Matthew 1:18-23
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This is how Jesus Christ came to be born. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph; but before they came to live together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph; being a man of honor and wanting to spare her publicity, decided to divorce her informally.
He had made up his mind to do this when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you must name him Jesus, because he is the one who is to save his people from their sins.’
Now all this took place to fulfil the words spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and they will call him Emmanuel, a name which means ‘God-is-with-us.’
Pope Leo’s Homily
Dear Friends,
In the early days of my pontificate, I felt a deep desire and a sense of duty to visit Genazzano and the shrine of Our Lady of Good Counsel.
Throughout my life, she has accompanied me with her maternal presence, her wisdom, and her example of love for her Son. He is always the center of my faith.
I am joyfully here again today, celebrating the Vigil of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin with you and entrusting to the Child Mary what is still being born in this poor yet magnificent humanity. It is fragile, like a sprout, yet it is a sign of God’s fidelity.
Yes, Mary is the dawn of a different day for our world, finally freed from evil.
We are here with her, around the altar from which salvation comes and transforms us into children of the Son.
Let us ask her for her good counsel so that we may welcome the divine Word, keep it within us, and give birth to it through courageous and wise decisions—decisions of authentic conversion.)
Dear friends,
In this place of ancient Augustinian presence, I will reflect on the recently proclaimed biblical passages with the help of St. Thomas of Villanova. He was an Augustinian friar and bishop who dedicated his life to serving the poor and deeply understood the truth of the faith.
He saw the paradox of Mary’s smallness and marginality being made central to the economy of salvation.
Let us ask ourselves: What must the birth of a girl have been like in the time of Joachim and Anne?
St Thomas digs deep: He writes “I have reflected many times and I have wondered why the Evangelists, who spoke so extensively about St. John the Baptist and the apostles, tell us so succinctly the story of the Virgin Mary, who surpasses everyone else in her life and her personal stature.
Why, I wonder, have we not been told the manner of her conception, her birth, her education, her habits, the virtues that adorned her, what human relationship she had with her son, how she related to him, how she lived with the apostles after his ascension?
These things were important and the faithful would read about them with singular devotion and would please the common people.
Oh, evangelists, I address you!
Why did you deprive us of such great joy with your silence?
Why did you leave out such joyful details, expected and pleasant details?”.
In these words, we find an important suggestion for our faith: to question Scripture and its authors, discuss the text and engage dialogue with the witnesses of Revelation, as with friends.
After all, we are “fellow citizens of the saints and members of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19).
From Mary herself we learn we learn to converse with God, ask questions (Luke 1:34) and interprets events by reflecting on them (Luke 2:19, 51).
However, the Gospel according to Matthew seems to agree with Saint Thomas of Villanova through its silence.
We have heard that it reports Mary’s presence, but does not speak of her.
Yet, the mere presence of Mary – and ofher Son – moves the entire story: including that of Joseph and his household.
Mary’s presence causes a leap in the genealogy, an unexpected novelty capable of changing the expectations and predictable behavior of a man.
Joseph’s actions are a response to God and Mary’s presence, which surpasses any possible discourse or story. In Mary, salvation finds a home. God is with us!
Our Saint Thomas writes: “Well, with regard to these reflections of mine to which I referred, on why a book was not written on the deeds of the Virgin, as was done for the deeds of Paul, […] it only occurs to me that it was so because it pleased the Holy Spirit, and that by impulse the evangelists, about her, were silent, for the simple reason that the glory of the Virgin, as we read in the psalm, was entirely in her (Psalm 44:14 – Thou hast made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples), and could be imagined rather than described, and that, as a summary of her story, what is expressed in the title is sufficient: that Jesus was born of her.
What else do you want to know? What else do you seek in the Virgin?
Suffice it to say that she is the Mother of God”.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Let us be overwhelmed by this mystery. It is impossible to become accustomed to it!
We celebrate the birth of a little girl destined to become the Mother of her Creator, the Mother of God who saves us.
Yet, she was simply born, like the daughters and granddaughters we hold in our arms.
We have noble and lofty titles for her today: Lady and Queen. But God’s way has been and remains simpler and quieter, yet no less powerful and transformative. It is the way of Jesus himself: “the firstborn among many brethren.”
(Romans 8:29 – those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren.).
Like Mary, we are also “predestined to be conformed to the image of the Son” by grace. We desire and prefer his way, his choices, and his path over all others.
Through Jesus Christ, God chose the humblest historical conditions and creatures to reveal the uniqueness of his kingdom, where arrogance has no place and omnipotence is defined by creation, service, and care for life.
St Thomas of Villanova then adds: “Let your imagination run wild, broaden the boundaries of understanding and paint in the depths of your soul a young woman who is most pure, most prudent, most beautiful, most devout, most humble, most meek, full of every grace, very rich in holiness, adorned with all the virtues, embellished with all charisms, absolutely pleasing to God; amplify it as much as you can, imagine how capable you are”.
Saint Thomas invites us to engage in this marvelous exercise of the imagination.
And he observes: “The Holy Spirit did not describe her in writing, but waited for you to paint her interiorly”.
Dear brothers and sisters,
Contemplative prayer gives shape to that which the world does not tell us exists, yet it already does.
It is invisible yet has a new kind of strength.
It is not fantasy, but prophecy.
In times of destruction and uncertainty, we need it to see and serve God’s work.
The prophet Micah, from the small town of Bethlehem, foresaw the coming of a King of peace.
Thanks to him, we can finally live in security on earth (Micah 5:1-4).
In today’s Collect prayer, we asked that “the faith of her birth may increase peace in us.”
Yes, dear friends, we want to imagine peace, broaden our understanding, and embrace it in our souls.
We want to recognize that peace already exists and serve it.
Peace is the gift of God, the breath of the Risen One, and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Let us allow peace to grow within us.
It will sprout in the world.
The Mother of Good Counsel will accompany us on this mission.
