624. December 8, Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary (I)
Meditations no. 551 (unofficial computer-aided translation)
By her Immaculate Conception, the Blessed Virgin was adorned with all graces and supernatural gifts.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women. Thus the Archangel St Gabriel greets the Blessed Virgin Mary, when he declares that she has been chosen to be the Mother of God. This is the scene that we contemplate today in the Gospel of the Mass for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. He could have greeted her in a hundred different ways, our Father said, but he does so by reminding her of what is the most important thing for a Christian soul: that she is gratia plena, the creature who enjoys a very special intimacy with God because she is filled with grace.
Full of grace! Godâs grace encounters no obstacles of any kind in the Virgin Mary, who was preserved from original sin by divine decree from the first moment of her conception. So great and abundant are the gifts and privileges that our Lord bestowed on his Mother that Christians of every age, realizing their inability to praise her as she deserves, have had recourse to poetic images in trying to capture something of holy Maryâs perfection. She is more beautiful than beauty itself, holier than holiness itself⌠Mary alone has become the dwelling place of all the graces of the Holy Spirit and, God alone excepted, she is above everyone. She is more beautiful, perfect and holy than the very cherubim and seraphim, and all the choirs of the angels.
We shouldnât be surprised at the outpouring of heavenly gifts in a soul so open and docile to Godâs action. To help us understand it at least partially, our founder invited us to consider how God acts towards us, who so often offend him: how he never tires of pardoning us like the father of the prodigal son. If he is so generous with those who have offended him, what wonât he do to honour his immaculate Mother, the most holy Virgin, faithful always?
If the love of God can achieve such great results when the response from our human heart, which is frequently a traitor, is so small, how much more will it accomplish in the heart of Mary, who never resisted in the slightest the will of God?
Love for Godâs grace will lead us always to flee from sin.
The divine Motherhood of Mary is the source of all the perfections and privileges with which she is endowed. Because of it, she was conceived immaculate and is full of grace; because of it, she is ever virgin, she was taken up body and soul to heaven and has been crowned Queen of all creation, above the angels and saints. Greater than she, none but God.
We too are loved by God, who has made us his children. By adopting us, he has placed his grace in our souls, which leads us to resemble Christ and become holy. God constantly grants you his gifts. Besides redeeming you and making you his son by baptism, besides providing you with the other sacraments, channels of grace, he has bestowed on you a very great treasure, the treasure of your vocation, of your divine call to Opus Dei; and if you correspond faithfully to those graces, he constantly gives you more help.
My son, let me ask you: Do you love Godâs grace? You will tell me âYesâ, you are doing everything you can so as never to lose it I know you are, but are you trying to make sure that his grace grows in your soul each day? Do you strive to respond with complete generosity to Godâs inspirations? There are some words of Christâs in the Gospel that are very clear but that sometimes trouble me: For to him who has will more be given; and from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away (Mk 4: 25). If you and I respond to grace, like our Mother, God will enable us to respond even more; if we strive to be faithful to our vocation, he will give us more help at every moment and make us holier each day. Let us make a firm resolution, then, to thank God for all the gifts he has bestowed on us.
This will lead us to never allow our soul to be stained even slightly, to hate venial sin with all our strength. Is a small spot on your face of little importance? Perhaps; but two hundred, five hundred, one thousand⌠how horrible! You and I have to foster the good disposition to never offend our Lord knowingly, not even venially. We must have such a horror for deliberate venial sin that we are always resolved to reject even the slightest thing that could be an obstacle to Godâs love. This is what it means to truly love Godâs grace, the sovereign treasure that comes to us from heaven.
Full of grace! Our Lady gives us a lesson of love, of correspondence. Dominus tecum! The Lord is with you. With divine help, we too will always be close to God, and never stray from Him, since we rely on our heavenly Motherâs protection.
I well know, my children, that if you consider carefully what Iâm telling you, if you meditate on it on your own, if your bring these scenes from the Gospel to your heart and mind and take advantage of them to converse with our Mother, you will need to open your soul wide to her and show her the depths of your heart, the motives for your actions. You will discover corners in your life that need to be set right, and others that are going well but that could go better. You will receive new light, you will learn many important things by drawing close to our Lady. You will acquire greater supernatural vision to walk along this path of Opus Dei. And you will ask our heavenly Mother to grant this light, this grace that passes through her hands from the Heart of her Son, to all who form part of our great family.
And then, since you will be better and I will try to be so as well, the Workâs fruit will be greater every day. There will be more vocations, more desires for holiness in all the daughters and sons of God in Opus Dei, more joy in our everyday work, more extensive apostolic works: new facets, new colours, for this divine and radiant impulse that is Opus Dei in the world.
Frequent confession increases divine grace in our souls.
The sacrament of penance holds a privileged place among the many channels through which divine grace reaches souls. In addition to forgiving our sins when we confess them to the priest with true contrition, our Lord infuses us with his grace and strengthens our weakness. Our Father said: Iâm filled with joy, it makes me very happy to go to confession because I know that our Lord once again forgives me. Iâm very glad to play the role of the prodigal son, and Iâm convinced that by the pious practice of confession, one learns to have more sorrow, and therefore more love.
To derive as much fruit as possible from frequent confession, we need to make a detailed examination of conscience, without falling into generalizations. We must strive to get to the root of our sins, shortcomings and omissions. Our sincere effort to detect whatever can lead us away from God is indispensable so that grace can imbue our soul, cleansing and strengthening us, while moving us to compunction. Our contrition will give rise to a determined resolution to struggle against deliberate venial sin. One can never sufficiently stress the need to combat the little foxes that spoil the vineyard, since they extinguish the fervour of charity and weaken all the other Christian virtues.
Making a real effort to be punctual week after week is another manifestation of our desire to take very good advantage of the grace our Lady obtains for us. Your confession should be done very well. Never receive the sacraments with routine, specifically the holy sacrament of penance. Always receive it with piety, refinement and a living faith. And thank our Lord for it afterwards, since a God who pardons is a marvel of love.
Now that there is diabolical propaganda against the sacrament of penance everywhere, you should never put off your weekly confession. Prepare it very well. Go to confession whenever you need it or the good of your soul requires it Our Lord is very pleased by this, because it is a manifestation of love, of humility, of thanksgiving for having instituted this marvellous supernatural remedy for our weakness.
Godâs grace is abundant, and our Lady is omnipotent in her intercession. When holy Mary asks God for something, her prayer is always heard; therefore she is called Omnipotencia suplicante. Well, our great Lady and our Mother, the Virgin Mary, who has always been the protector of Opus Dei, will be so until the end. If we donât leave her, she wonât leave us.
Therefore, my child, struggle to correct your shortcomings, and continue forward on your way. Love holy Mary madly and everything will go better. And your apostolic work and that of my children in Opus Dei all over the world will be each day more beautiful.