HAPPY AND HOLY NEW YEAR 2024

Dear friends and oblates of the Saint Catherine of Siena Monastery of Taggia,

Of course, this new year has already begun liturgically at first vespers of the first Sunday of Advent! We then contemplated this beautiful cohort of saints of the Old Testament who awaited with great fervor the coming of the Messiah, among whom the ancestors of monks, prophets and hermits, the greatest of whom, according to the testimony of Our Lord Himself, is Saint John the Baptist. Then we celebrated with joy the birth of this long-awaited Savior, and the octave of the Nativity, the day of the circumcision of Jesus who already shed his blood for us, and now we approach the revelation of the glorious Reign of Christ in the adoration of the humble Magi proclaiming through their gifts the mystery of Our Lord Jesus Christ:

• His royalty, symbolized by gold, also present at the holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated in golden chalices, the priest being adorned with sacred vestments;
• His priesthood, symbolized by incense, by which the priest pays homage to the Divinity in the name of all the faithful;
• His salvation, symbolized by myrrh, is the sacrifice of the Son of God made present in the Mass for the greater glory of God and the salvation of poor sinners.

Yes, the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass represents, and continues all these holy mysteries, and this is why we must preserve it in all its purity, because it is the faithful expression of our Catholic faith.