VATICAN - “The feast of the Immaculate conception illuminates like a beacon the Season of Advent, time of trustful watching for the coming of the Saviour”: the Pope’s prayer on the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception

Monday, 11 December 2006

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Today we celebrate one of the most beautiful and popular feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary: her Immaculate Conception. Mary never committed sin, indeed she was preserved even from that common heritage of the human race, original sin. And this was because of the mission for which God destined her: to be the Mother of the Redeemer”. With these words the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI introduced the Angelus prayer on 8 December. The answer to the question, why out of all women God chose Mary of Nazareth, “is hidden in the fathomless mystery of God’s will” said the Pope adding: “However the Gospel does highlight one reason: Mary’s humility”. The Pope then quoted in this regard the last canticle of Dante’s Paradiso and the Magnificat recorded by St Luke the Evangelist. “God was attracted by Mary’s humility, she enjoyed God’s favour - the Pope explained -. And became the Mother of God, image and model of the Church, chosen among the peoples to receive the blessing of the Lord and offer it to the whole human family. This ‘blessing’ is Christ himself. He is the source of grace, with which Mary was filled from the first instant of her existence. She welcomed Jesus with faith and with love she gave him to the world. This is also our mission, the vocation and the mission of the Church: to welcome Christ in our life and give Him to the world”.
Before reciting the Angelus, the Pope said “Like a beacon the feast of the Immaculate Conception illuminates the Season of Advent, a time of trustful watching for the coming of the Saviour” and he invited Romans and visitors to join him in the afternoon, for the tradition act of homage to “our Sweet Mother, through grace and of grace”.
In the afternoon, in front of the statue of Our Lady in Piazza di Spagna near the building of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, the Pope gave discourse and placed flowers as an act of homage to Our Lady. The Pope invoked Mary with the words of the Angel: "Hail full of grace" (Lk 1,28). Here are excerpts of the Pope’s prayer: “In your Immaculate Conception there shines the vocation of the disciples of Christ, called by His grace to be holy and faultless in love. In you shines the dignity of every human person, precious in the eyes of the Creator. Those who look to you, Mother most Holy, are serene however hard the trials of life”.
“Teach us to say "yes" to the will of the Lord. A "yes" united with your own "yes" without reserve or shadow, which the heavenly Father deigned to need in order to generate the new Man, Christ, only Saviour of the world and history. Give us the courage to say "no" to the lure of power, money, pleasure, dishonest profit, corruption and hypocrisy, selfishness and violence. "No" to the Evil One, the dishonest Prince of this world”.
“Your name for all generations is a pledge of firm hope… Mary "full of grace", be a tender and loving mother for the people of this city, so the authentic spirit of the Gospel may inspire and orient their actions; be a Mother and watchful guardian of Italy and Europe so that from their ancient Christian roots the peoples may draw new energy to build their present and their future; be a provident and merciful Mother for the whole world so that, with respect for human dignity and rejection of all forms of violence and abuse, the solid foundations may be laid for a civilisation of love”.
On his way back to the Vatican Pope Benedict XVI stopped at St Mary Major Basilica to pray in front of the city’s deeply venerated icon of Our Lady, Salus Populi Romani. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 11/12/2006, righe 44, parole 665)


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