Pope Francis: Mary’s faith unties the knot of sin

(Vatican Radio) Thousands of pilgrims were in Saint Peter’s Square Saturday evening to join Pope Francis in venerating the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima. The statue made its journey to Rome as the celebrations for the Feast of Our Lady Fatima, which is October 13. Pope Francis will preside over Mass on Sunday morning, and the recitation of the Rosary before the statue. He will then consecrate the world to Mary’s Immaculate Heart.
During the evening’s event, the Pope welcomed the statue, which was processed through Saint Peter’s Square, and led the faithful in reciting the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The Holy Father then offered a reflection which focused on the Blessed Mother’s faith, explaining that her “faith unties the knot of sin.”
Sin, he says, is “is a kind of knot created deep within us,” and these knots “take away our peace and serenity.”
It was Mary’s “yes” which “opened the door for God to undo the knot of the ancient disobedience.”
She is “the mother who patiently and lovingly brings us to God so that he can untangle the knots of our soul by his fatherly mercy.”
The Pope also reflected on how it was Mary’s faith that “gave flesh to Jesus.”
Believing in the Incarnation, Pope Francis continued, “means giving him our flesh with the humility and courage of Mary, so that he can continue to dwell in our midst.”
The Holy Father then reflected on Mary’s faith as a journey, saying how “she precedes us on this pilgrimage, she accompanies and sustains us.”
To say that her faith is a journey is to say that “her entire life was to follow her Son.”
Mary understood that the journey of the faith passes through the Cross, from the time Herod sought to kill the newborn Jesus until his passion and death on the Cross.
“And when she received word that the tomb was empty, her heart was filled with the joy of faith: Christian faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.”
Pope Francis concluded his address by turning to the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, saying: “we thank you for our faith, and we renew our entrustment to you, Mother of our faith.
Listen to Ann Schneible’s report: