Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The Liturgy of the Word which the Church offers us on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, 8 December, presents a marked contrast: the first reading from the Book of Genesis speaks of Adam and Eve who have lost grace and hide from God; in the Gospel we hear the message of the Annunciation presenting Mary “full of grace”, enveloped and filled with God’s presence.
In Genesis darkness: the darkness of sin hides God’s holiness from the eyes of Adam and Eve, preventing them from enjoying the beauty of His Face, creating an abyss between the creature and the Creator. At Nazareth everything is light: Immaculate Mary listens to the Angel who, as Luke’s Gospel explains, is sent by God enters, without having to cross any deserts, almost as if Mary’s room were the anti-chamber of Paradise!
Gabriel’s visit to Mary unites Heaven and earth: where there is Mary, the Woman “full of grace” there is also the transparent Heaven of God where His vivid light is reflected without distortion, like when a ray of sunshine passes pure crystal its reflection is not in the least altered, it is reflected in all its original beauty. Mary alone in fact is entirely Immaculate, the creature who from the very first instant of her existence gave herself totally to God, keeping nothing for herself!
How often must the verses of Psalm 131 which speak of perfect entrustment to God have resounded in her heart : “Lord, my heart is not proud; nor are my eyes haughty. I do not busy myself with great matters, with things too sublime for me. Rather, I have stilled my soul, hushed it like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me.”!
“Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!” (Lk 1, 28). What a marvellous event! An angelic creature encounters a human creature, never before and never again will one so pure exist on the face of the earth; the humility of an angel encounters the ineffable humility of this young woman, who rather than rejoice at a greeting of such great dignity on the contrary is troubled and fears she may be mistaken.
Still more marvellous is this encounter when compared - as the Church has always done - with the encounter between Eve and the Serpent. Eve, tricked by Satan misleads Adam: her pride generates proud ingenuity in Adam which becomes total separation from God.
Mary, totally humble, is inspired by the Angel’s announcement and filled with light in her humility she illuminates us as we look to her in order to do God’s will. The Immaculate One, in her splendour of grace, enables the human race to find paradise lost, the joy of a spotless Heaven. He maternal mediation reintroduces the creature into communion with Jesus, it heals the distance which had become irremediable and at last, from the Annunciation onwards we can exclaim the whole truth: “the old order is gone and a new being is there to see.” (2 Cor 5, 17).
The Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI at the Angelus prayer on the recent feast of the Immaculate Conception said “may today's Feast of the Immaculate Conception illuminate like a beacon the Advent Season, which is a time of vigilant and confident waiting for the Saviour. While we advance towards God who comes, let us look at Mary, who "shines forth..., a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God’’ (Lumen gentium, 68)”; recalling that in the afternoon he would make the traditional act of human in Piazza di Spagna “to this sweet Mother by grace and of grace” (8 December 2006).
“Sweet Mother of grace”! Let us open our soul to this reality of faith and let us unite with the Vicar of Christ who said the Immaculate Mary: “whoever turns to you O Mother Most Holy, however hard the trials of life never loses serenity. Although the sad experience of sin disfigures the dignity of the children of God, whoever turns to you rediscovers the beauty of truth and love and finds again the path which leads to the house of the Father” (Benedict XVI, 8 December 2006). (Agenzia Fides 13/12/2006 - righe 47, parole 694)
