Immaculata

On this Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us join together with the Communion of Saints of all ages in singing the praises of the Mother of God.

Mary’s Immaculate Conception is the sign of the gracious love of the Father, the perfect expression of the redemption accomplished by the Son and the beginning of a life completely open to the working of the Spirit. …

By her words and her silence the Virgin Mary stands before us as a model for our pilgrim way. It is not an easy way: as a result of the fall of our first parents, humanity is marked by the wounds of sin, whose consequences continue to be felt also among the redeemed. But evil and death will not have the last word! Mary confirms this by her whole life, for she is a living witness of the victory of Christ, our Passover.

(Pope John Paul II, Homily during his pilgrimage to Lourdes, 2004)