Homage to the 'Immacolata':
The Pope at Piazza Spagna
December 8, 2012
The clear bulletproof glass panels of the new Popemobile debuted today allows the Pope to be photographed - and seen - as if there were no panels at all, and that's a great improvement.
'Real joy fills the heart
freed from sin' as Mary was
Adapted from the English service of
On a chilly but bright Saturday afternoon Pope Benedict XVI, to the joy of pilgrims and the curiosity of visiting Christmas shoppers to Rome, came to a packed Piazza di Spagna at the foot of Rome's famous Spanish Steps, to pay homage to Mary on the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
A pillar surmounted by a statue of "L'Immacolata", as the Italians refer to her, dominates the square adjoining the Italian capital's priciest shopping district.
Following a reading from the Book of Revelation, the Holy Father addressed the gathered faithful and visitors by the statue of Our Lady, telling them what a joy it was to be in Piazza di Spagna on this feast day in the Year of Faith.
In the first of three points on the Immaculate Conception, the Pope noted that the encounter between the divine messenger and the Immaculate Virgin goes completely unnoticed = nobody knows about it, and nobody talks about it.
He noted if this great event was to happen in our time, “it would not leave traces in newspapers and magazines, because it is a mystery that happens in silence.” And yet, he said, what often goes unnoticed “is more fruitful than the frenetic pace that characterizes our city.”
The statue Mary in the centre of Rome, he pointed out, “reminds us that God's voice is not recognized in the noise and agitation”, but his design for our personal and social life is not superficial, but goes to a where the essential forces are neither economic nor political, but moral and spiritual.
In his second point, the Holy Father underlined that the Immaculate Conception also reminds us that the salvation of the world is not the work of man - not of science, technology, ideology - but it is the work of God's grace.
His third point was that the Immaculate Conception speaks of joy, the real joy that fills a heart freed from sin. Mary's joy is full, he said, because in her heart there is no shadow of sin.
The Pope called on the faithful to learn to say No to the voice of selfishness, and to say Yes to authentic love.
Here is a translation of the Pope's address:
Dear brothers and sisters,
It is always a special joy to be gathered here in Piazza di Spagna on the feast of Mary Immaculate. To find ourselves together - Romans, pilgrims and visitors - at the foot of the statue of our spiritual Mother makes us feel united in the sign of the faith, which I am happy to underscore in this Year of Faith .
I greet you with great affection and would like to share with you some simple thoughts suggested by the Gospel on this Solemnity - the Gospel of the Annunciation.
First of all, it always strikes us and makes us reflect on the fact that what was the decisive moment for the history of mankind - the moment when God became man - took place in great silence. The encounter between the divine messenger and the Immaculate Virgin took place completely unnoticed - no one knew, no one talked.
If this event had happened in our time, it would not have left any trace in newspapers and magazines, because it is a mystery that takes place in silence. That which is truly great often passes unobserved, and such a quiet silence shows itself to be even more fruitful in the frenetic agitation that characterizes our cities, but which - adjusting for measure - was already known in important cities like the Jerusalem of Jesus's time.
Such activism makes us incapable of stopping, of being tranquil, of listening in that silence in which the Lord makes himself discreetly heard.
Mary, on the day she received the angel's announcement, was gathered into herself but at the same time open to listening to God. In her, there was no obstacle, no screen, nothing that separated her from God.
This is the meaning of her being without original sin: her relationship with God was free of the least possible taint - there was no separation, not a hint of selfishness - only perfect harmony. Her small human heart was completely centered in the great heart of God.
And sop, dear brothers, coming here, to this monument to Mary in the heart of Rome, reminds us first of all that the voice of God cannot be recognized in a din nor in agitation. We cannot perceive his plan for our personal and social life by remaining superficial, but by going into a more profound level where the forces that act are not economic and political but moral and spiritual. That is where Mary invites us to plumb and to keep ourselves attuned to God's action.
There is a second thing that is even more important that the Immaculate tells us when we come here. Namely, that the salvation of man is not the work of man - not of science nor technology nor ideology - but it comes from Grace.
What does this word mean? Grace means Love in all its purity and beauty. It is God himself as he revealed himself in the salvific history narrated in the Bible, and completely so in Jesus Christ.
Mary is called 'full of grace' (Lk 1,28), and with this identity, she reminds us that the power of God's love is stronger than evil, that it can fill up the empty spaces that selfishness provokes in the story of persons, families, nations, the world.
This empty spaces can become hell, in which human life is pulled down towards nothing, where it loses meaning and light. The false remedies that the world proposes to fill up this emptiness - drugs are emblematic - actually just widen the abyss.
Only love can save man from this fall, but not just any love: it must be a love than has the purity of Grace - of God who transforms and renews - and can therefore place new oxygen, clean air, new life energy, into lungs that have been intoxicated.
Mary tells us that no matter how low man falls, it is never too low for God, who descended to hell. no matter how our heart has lost its way, "God is always greater than our heart" (1Jn 3,20). The gentle breath of Grace can dispel the darkest clouds, it can make like beautiful and rich with meaning even in the most inhuman situations.
This gives rise to the third thing that Mary Immaculate tells us: She speaks to us of joy, that authentic joy that fills a heart that is free of sin. Sin carries with it a negative sadness that leads one to close up into himself. Grace brings true joy which does not depend on possession of things but is rooted in one's deepest intimacy and which nothing and no one can take away.
Christianity is essentially a 'Gospel', 'good news' - though some think it is an obstacle to joy because they see in it a collection of prohibitions and regulations.
In fact, Christianity is the announcement of the victory of Grace over sin, of life over death. And if it carries with it renunciations and a discipline of the mind, the heart and one's behavior, it is precisely because man has the poisonous root of selfishness which does harm to himself and to others.
Therefore, one must learn to say No to the voice of selfishness and Yes to the voice of authentic love. Mary's joy is full, because there was no shadow of sin in her heart. This joy coincides with the presence of Jesus in her life: Jesus who was conceived and carried in her womb, then a child entrusted to her maternal care; Jesus whom she saw leaving home, but whom she followed from a distance with faith, up to the Cross and his Resurrection. Jesus was the joy of Mary as he is the joy of the Church, and all of us.
During this season of Advent, Mary Immaculate teaches us to listen to the voice of God who speaks in silence; to welcome his grace, which liberates us from sin and every selfishness;and thus, to savor true joy. Mary, full of grace, pray for us!
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Thanks to Gloria for some of the photos showing the rite... The Yahoo newsphoto file does not have them at all...[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 10/12/2012 08:03]