“… si chiamava Maria” (Lc 1,26-27)

Reflections on the Advent season by Luigi Testa*

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph of the house of David. The virgin was called Mary (Lk 1,26-27)

Allow us, Maria, to spy on something of your intimacy. Let us hear, just for a moment, what you say to him, what you sing to him, how you talk to him.

Let us stay here watching you, watching you, in silence, while you still caress your belly, and dream what eyes it will have, what nose it will have, what mouth it will have.

Let us, just once, place our hand on your lap, to feel how it moves, how it kicks, how it breathes.

When in a few days I see you together - mother and son - let me understand, Mary, that here is all the sweetness and all the beauty that I desire. «And do you not languish, oh hard soul of mine, seeing Mary languish for Jesus? What are you waiting for, what do you think? All other beauty is mud, it is ugliness; resolve yourself, come on» (“They stopped the heavens”).

* Luigi Testa is the author of legal texts and writes for some national newspapers. “Via crucis of a gay boy” (Castelvecchi, 2024) is his first book of a spiritual nature, other of his reflections are also published onGionata.org