Christmas Novena

The liturgy of Advent, starting from 16 December, with the Commemoration of the Annunciation to Saint Joseph and the following Pre-Christmas Holiday “Accolto” (de Exceptato), is wholly orientated towards the preparation for the birth of Jesus.

As our Archbishop writes, “Christians look carefully at the days, precarious and promising, opaque and full of hope, so that the amazement of that blessed day that enlightens them all is rekindled. Are we able to consider history, its leaps of wisdom and its disappointing ignorance, so that the holy day of Jesus can still surprise and rejoice us, able to offer peace?” (Letter for the Season of Advent).

The Duomo, heart of the religious life of the Diocese, accompanies these days with a specific celebratory moment addressed to everyone and, in particular, to those who, even at this time, find themselves in the centre of Milan for work and study.
From Wednesday, 16 December to Wednesday, 23 November (on weekdays from Monday to Friday), at 5.30pm, the Capitular Mass celebrated between Vespers will be eld at the high altar. The service will also be broadcast live on television on the digital terrestrial channel 195 and in streaming on the Diocese of Milan website (www.chiesadimilano.it).

AThrough listening to the Word of God and liturgical prayer, we hasten our journey towards hope, as pilgrims to Bethlehem – just like Mary and Joseph represented in a panel in one of the Cathedral’s stained-glass windows dedicated to the New Testament – and we ask to be illuminated by the Lord Jesus who, in coming to this world, overcomes the darkness in our hearts, fulfils all expectations, comforts all solitude, and sanctifies all existence: “Be close, oh almighty God, to those who wait for you with a sincere heart; to those who feel so fragile and poor give the strength and richness of our inexhaustible charity”.