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In the Angelus of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Francis urges Christians to follow a path of conversion, as we find hope in the special grace that Mary received from God.
By Devin Watkins
Pope Francis prayed the Angelus on Tuesday, as the Church marks the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
In his catechesis prior to Marian prayer, the Pope reflected on how Mary offers us a foretaste of the blessedness of eternal life.
“She too was saved by Christ,” she said, “but in an absolutely extraordinary way, because God wanted the mother of his Son to be untouched by the misery of sin from the moment of her conception.
The Blessed Virgin Mary, the Pope added, was “free from every stain of sin” throughout her life, due to a “singular action of the Holy Spirit to always remain in perfect relationship with her Son Jesus.”
‘Full of grace’
Pope Francis said that every human being is created by God for the fullness of holiness, as Saint Paul says in the second reading of the day’s liturgy (Eph 1, 3-6, 11-12).
Mary, the Pope said, experienced the grace of being totally free from sin “from her mother’s womb.” Yet we hope to enjoy the flawlessness in paradise.
“What Mary had from the beginning will be ours in the end,” he said, “after we have passed through the cleansing ‘bath’ of Christ’s grace.”
“The Lord is with you”
The Pope said that all the saints have traveled the same path that we walked, since all were “marked by original sin and fought with all their might against its consequences.”
He pointed out that the first person that we are sure who entered paradise was a “ruffian: one of the two who was crucified with Jesus.”
This, he said, is a sign that God’s grace is offered to all.
‘Blessed are you’
Pope Francis warned Christians to “be careful.”
“It is not worth being intelligent, continually postponing a serious evaluation of one’s life, taking advantage of the patience of the Lord.”
Said there’s no time like the present for Carpe Diem – seize the day.
‘Pray for us sinners’
We should do so, he pointed out, not in a worldly sense of enjoying every passing moment, but in a Christian sense.
“Saying ‘no’ to evil and ‘yes’ to God, once and for all stop thinking about ourselves, dragging ourselves into hypocrisy and facing our own reality, recognizing that we have not loved God and our neighbor as we should. . “
Once we have seized the opportunity to acknowledge our failures, we must confess it, he said, in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and then seek to repair the damage we have done to others.
‘Now and at the hour of our death’
This difficult path of conversion, Pope Francis concluded, is our path to become “holy” and “immaculate.”
“The uncontaminated beauty of our Mother is incomparable, but at the same time it attracts us,” he said. “Let us trust her and say ‘no’ to sin and ‘yes’ to Grace once and for all.”
