In this poor room, now lavishly decorated by grateful pilgrims and devout Catholics, we recall to mind the great mystery of the Incarnation.
“Hic Verbum caro factum est.”
Thus are the words inscribed upon the altar: Here, the Word became flesh.
These bare and naked walls heard the “yes” of Mary, that mysterious assent which opened Paradise to fallen humanity, stained and wounded by sin.
It saw the infancy and growth of Jesus, the serene work of Joseph, the sweet and gentle relations of the Holy Family, where charity flowered forth.
At the creation of the universe, the “fiat” of the omnipotent God was enough. For the redemption of mankind, God asked the “fiat” of this little Virgin, His favoured and Immaculate One, so that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity could be made man, through the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, in the womb of the Blessed Virgin.
It was in this Holy House of Loreto, transplanted miraculously from Nazareth, that the eternal Word was made flesh. Tradition reports that during the night of December 9-10, 1294, the Holy House of Nazareth was transported by the angels to a place called Loreto, in Italy.
The place quickly became a place of pilgrimage, enriched by many indulgences granted by various Popes. It was customary to sing there a series of invocations to the Virgin Mary, which were subsequently approved by the Church, under the name of the “Litany of Loreto.”
The new building, which houses the Novitiate and temporary chapel, is now known as “Loreto” – may the gentle Virgin help to form her little children so they may be pleasing to her Divine Son, Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
It may not look like much now, but this humble dwelling houses the King of Kings, hidden not only in the Sacrament of Holy Eucharist on a lowly altar, but also in the souls of His spouses, the virgins He has chosen to grace His garden on earth.
O Holy Virgin, pray for us, that we may indeed be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
