The Virgin Mary is the woman of the “fiat,” the one who said “Yes” to the message of the archangel. She was ready and willing to receive Jesus and is the perfect example for us to follow now and at the end of time.
Pope Benedict XVI frequently referenced Mary during his homilies in Advent, appealing to her in prayer:
A hymn of peace rang out in Heaven when God became man and was born of a woman in the fullness of time (cf. Gal 4: 4).
Let us therefore begin this new Advent — a time granted to us by the Lord of time — by reawakening in our hearts the expectation of the God-who-comes and the hope that his Name will be hallowed, that his Kingdom of justice and peace will come, that his will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.
Let us allow the Virgin Mary, Mother of the God-who-comes and Mother of Hope, to guide us in this waiting.
He then offered this prayer, which can be our prayer, asking Mary to help us to receive Jesus as she did:
May she whom we will celebrate as Immaculate in a few days obtain for us that we be found holy and immaculate in love at the coming of Our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit, be praise and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
While we may not have been born “immaculate,” we can strive to purify our heart as Mary did, making it an open vessel for God to dwell in.
And today we celebrate...