Expectation or waiting is a dimension that flows through our whole personal, family and social existence. Expectation is present in thousands of situations, from the smallest and most banal to the most important that involve us completely and in our depths (…). One could say that man is alive as long as he waits, as long as hope is alive in his heart. And from his expectations man recognizes himself: our moral and spiritual “stature” can be measured by what we wait for, by what we hope for. Every one of us, therefore, especially in this Season which prepares us for Christmas, can ask himself: What am I waiting for? What, at this moment of my life, does my heart long for?

Pope Benedict XVI

John and Andrew had faith, because they had certainty in a perceptible Presence. When they were there … seated at His house, toward evening, looking at Him speak, there was a certainty in a perciptible Presence. … Instead of Him with His hair in the wind, instead of watching Him speak with His mouth opening and shutting, He arrives through our presence, which is like … fragile skin, the fragile masks of something powerful, which is He who lies within.

Luigi Giussani

La Mercanti wishes everyone Merry Christmas!