Friday, December 7, 2007

Immaculate Mary

It is the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa has some profound words:
The feast of Mary Immaculate reminds humanity that there is only one thing that truly lowers man -- sin. It is a very urgent message to repeat. The world has lost the sense of sin. We joke as if it were the most harmless thing in the world. The world presents its products and spectacles as sinful to make them more attractive. It talks about sin, even the gravest sins, in terms of endearment: peccadilloes, little vices, etc. The expression "original sin" is used in the advertising world to indicate something very different from the Bible: A sin that confers a bit of originality on the one who commits it!

The world is afraid of everything but sin. It is afraid of pollution, the obscure maladies of the body, nuclear war, terrorism; but it is not afraid of the war against God, who is the eternal; the all-powerful; love. Jesus says, however, not to be afraid of those who kill the body, but only of him who after he has killed has the power to cast into Gehenna (cf. Luke 12:4-5).

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes, you are so right…anything goes, if it feels good do it and that makes it right. Also, I believe that not caring for our Earth, our bodies (both our physical and spiritual sides), pollution, war terrorism, are in themselves sins against God because they mock God and his creation. Our Lady calls us to repentance, (another dirty word in this age). During this Vigil we should reach out to her and her saving graces as Queen of the world. Thanks for the reminder.

elena maria vidal said...

And may she intercede in a powerful way for our country.....