Homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, delivered in Duc in Altus Church, in Magdala's Chapel, Migdal, Israel.

"After Adam had eaten of the tree the Lord God called to him. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;’ he replied ‘I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ he asked ‘Have you been eating of the tree I forbade you to eat?’ The man replied, ‘It was the woman you put with me; she gave me the fruit, and I ate it.’ Then the Lord God asked the woman, ‘What is this you have done?’ The woman replied, ‘The serpent tempted me and I ate.’ Then the Lord God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, be accursed beyond all cattle,
all wild beasts. You shall crawl on your belly and eat dust
every day of your life. I will make you enemies of each other: you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. It will crush your head and you will strike its heel.’ The man named his wife ‘Eve’ because she was the mother of all those who live." (Gen 3:9-15,20).

"Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done wonderful deeds." (cf. Ps 98).

"Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ. Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ, to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence, determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ for his own kind purposes, to make us praise the glory of his grace, his free gift to us in the Beloved..." (cf. Eph 1:3-9).

"The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the House of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary." (cf. Lk 1:26-38).

Artwork: "Immaculate Conception with Saints" by Piero di Cosimo, (c. 1485-1505).