Pope Recalls God's Plan of Love and Life

(December 09, 2010) Even though evil is something mankind experiences on a daily basis, and it can seem as if death has prevailed, there is hope, says Pope Benedict XVI. God has a plan. The Pope said this on Wednesday, solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, before praying the midday Angelus with several thousand pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican. The Holy Father noted that in the Gospel scene of the Annunciation, when God sends the angel Gabriel to announce to Mary the birth of Christ, he addressed her with the name "full of grace." This name, the Pontiff said, reveals Mary's most profound identity and explains to us the mystery that we celebrate today. From the moment of her conception, Mary was the object of a singular predilection on the part of God, who in his eternal plan chose her to be the mother of his Son made man and, hence, preserved her from original sin, he explained. For this reason, the angel addresses her with this name, which implicitly signifies: 'ever full of the love of God,' of his grace. Pope Benedict XVI called the mystery of the Immaculate Conception a "source of interior light, of hope and of consolation. In the midst of life's trials, and especially of the contradictions man experiences in his interior and around him, Mary, Mother of Christ, tells us that Grace is greater than sin, that God's mercy is more powerful than evil, and it is able to transform it into goodness." The Pope lamented that evil is something that is experienced everyday, and which has its root "in man's heart, a wounded, sick heart, incapable of curing itself." But God does not fail in his plan of love and life. He has given us his Immaculate Mother who asks us to trust Jesus to be saved.