Immaculate Conception: Victory Over Original Sin

[Chaldean_Rite]

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION: VICTORY OVER ORIGINAL SIN
VATICAN CITY, 8 DEC 2008 (VIS) - At midday today, Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Benedict XVI appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with 40,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square below.

            Today's solemnity, said the Pope, "reminds us of two fundamental        truths of our faith: original sin, ... and the victory over that sin of        the grace of Christ, a victory that shines out sublimely in Mary Most        Holy".
   
            "The existence of what the Church calls 'original sin'," he        explained, "is unfortunately overwhelmingly obvious, if only we look        around ourselves, and above all within ourselves. The experience of evil        is, in fact, so consistent that it is self-evident and raises within us        the question: where does it come from? For believers in particular, the        question is even deeper: if God, Who is absolute good, has created        everything, whence does evil come?
   
            "The first pages of the Bible", the Holy Father added, "answer this        fundamental question which faces every human generation, with the story of        creation and the fall of the first fathers. God created everything for        existence, in particular he created human beings in His own image. He did        not create death, this entered the world through the envy of the devil        who, rebelling against God, also drew men into deceit, inducing them to        rebel. This is the drama of freedom, which God accepts completely for the        sake of love, while promising that a Son born of woman will crush the head        of the ancient serpent".
   
            He went on: "From the beginning, the 'eternal counsel', to use        Dante's expression, has a 'preordained term': the Woman predestined to        become mother of the Redeemer, ... of the One Who humbled Himself to the        utmost in order to lead us back to our original dignity. This Woman ...        has a face and a name: 'full of grace', as the angel called her ... in        Nazareth.        She is the new Eve, wife of the new Adam, destined to be mother of all the        redeemed, ... the first to be liberated from the original fall of our        first fathers".
   
            "In Mary Immaculate we contemplate the reflection of the Beauty        that saves the world: the beauty of God that shines out on the face of        Christ".
   ANG/MARY IMMACULATE/...                                                            VIS 081209        (390)