Meditation on the Immaculate Conception
BY PADRE PIO OF PIETRELCINA, OFM, CAP.
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| Padre Pio praying before the image of Our Lady of Fatima in 1959 |
Eternal
Love, Spirit of
Light and Truth, make a way into my poor mind and allow me to
penetrate as far as it is possible to a wretched creature like
myself, into that abyss of grace, of purity and of holiness, that I
may acquire a love of God that is continually renewed, a love of God
Who, from all eternity planned the greatest of all the masterpieces
created by His hands: the Immaculate Virgin Mary.
From
all eternity Almighty God took delight in what was to be the most
perfect work of His hands, and anticipated this wonderful plan with
an outpouring of His Grace
Man,
created innocent, fell by disobeying Him; the mark of Original Sin
remained engraved on his forehead and that of his progeny who will
bear its consequences until the end of time.
A
woman brought ruin, and a woman was to bring salvation. The one,
being tempted by a serpent, stamped the mark of sin on the human
race; the other was to rise through grace, pure and immaculate. She
would crush the head of the serpent who was helpless before her and
who struggled in vain under her heel; for she was conceived without
sin, and through her came grace to mankind.
Protected
with Grace by Him Who was to be the Savior of Mankind that had fallen
into sin, she escaped all shadow of evil. She sprang from the mind of
God as a pure ray of light, and will shine like a morning star
over the human race that turns to her. She will be the sure guide who
will direct our steps toward the Divine Sun which is Jesus Christ.
He makes her radiant with divine splendor and points to her as our
model of purity and sanctity. No creature surpasses her, but all
creation defers to her through the Grace of Him Who made her
immaculate. He Whom she was to carry in her womb was the Son of God
participating with the Father and the Holy Spirit in the glory of her
conception.
In
the natural order she preceded her Divine Child, Our Lord, but in the
Divine order Jesus, the Divine Sun, arose before her, and she
received from Him all grace, all purity and
all beauty.
All
is darkness compared to the pure light that renews all creation
through Him whom she bore in her womb, as the dew on the rose.
The
Immaculate Conception is the first step in our salvation. Through
this singular and unique gift Mary received a profusion of Divine
Grace, and through her cooperation she became worthy of absorbing
infinitely more.
My
most pure Mother, my soul so poor, all stained with wretchedness and
sin cries out to your maternal heart. In your goodness deign, I
beseech you, to pour out on me at least a little of the grace that
flowed into you with such infinite profusion from the Heart of God.
Strengthened and supported by this grace, may I succeed in better
loving and serving Almighty God Who filled your heart completely, and
Who created the temple of your body from the moment of your
Immaculate Conception.
The
Three Divine Persons imbue this sublime creature with all her
privileges, her favors and her graces, and with all of her holiness.
The
Eternal Father created her pure and immaculate and is well pleased in
her for she is the worthy dwelling of His only Son. Through the
generating of His Son in His bosom from all eternity, He forecasts
the generation of His Son as Man in the pure womb of this Mother, and
He clothed her from her conception in the radiant snowy garment of
grace and of most perfect sanctity; she participates in His
perfection.
The
Son Who chose her for His Mother poured His wisdom into her that from
the very beginning, by infused knowledge, she knew her God. She loved
and served Him in the most perfect manner as He never until then had
been loved and served on this earth.
The
Holy Ghost poured His love into her; she was the only creature worthy
or capable of receiving this love in unlimited measure because no
other had sufficient purity to come so near to God; and being near to
Him could know and love Him ever more. She was the only creature
capable of containing the stream of love which poured into her from
on high. She alone was worthy to return to Him from Whom came that
love. This very love prepared her for that "Fiat" which
delivered the world from the tyranny of the infernal enemy and
overshadowed her, the purest of doves, making her pregnant with the
Son of God.
Oh
my Mother, how ashamed I feel in your presence, weighted down as I am
with faults! You are most pure and immaculate from the moment of your
conception, indeed from the moment in eternity when you were
conceived in the mind of God.
Have
pity on me! May one compassionate look of yours revive me, purify me
and lift me up to God; raising me from the filth of this world that I
may go to Him Who created me, Who regenerated me in Holy Baptism,
giving me back my white stole of innocence that Original Sin had so
defiled. Dear Mother, make me love Him! Pour into my heart that love
that burned in yours for Him. Even though I be clothed in misery, I
revere the mystery of your Immaculate Conception, and I ardently wish
that through it you may purify my heart so that I may love your God
and my God. Cleanse my mind that it may reach up to Him and
contemplate Him and adore Him in spirit and in truth. Purify my body
that I too may be a tabernacle for Him and be less unworthy of
possessing Him when He deigns to come to me in Holy Communion. Amen.
We
too, redeemed by Holy Baptism, are corresponding to the grace of our
vocation when in imitation of our Immaculate Mother we apply
ourselves incessantly to the knowledge of God, in order that we may
ever learn better to know Him, to serve Him and to love Him.
