In today's Gospel the Angel's greeting to Mary resounds: "Rejoice, full of grace: the Lord is with you" (Lk 1:28). God has always thought and wanted her as a creature full of grace, that is, filled with his love. But to be filled you need to make room, empty yourself, step aside. Just like Maria did. So much so that the Word became flesh in her. May the feast of our Mother help us to make our whole life a "yes" to God, a "yes" made up of adoration of Him and daily gestures of love and service.

From the Angelus of Pope Francis of 8 December 2019

For us Salesians, this feast also commemorates the beginning of the Oratory, on 8 December 1841, in Turin, in the church of San Francesco d'Assisi, with the meeting between Don Bosco and Bartolomeo Garelli. Although the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was established in 1863, the Oratory prophetically began with a Hail Mary.