602 Vacallo
(Switzerland); December 8, 1997
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
a "Look
today at the heavenly splendor of your immaculate Mother, and let yourselves be drawn, each and all, by the waves of
my sweet fragrance.
b I am the Immaculate Conception.
I am
all beautiful: tota
pulchra.
I am the living tabernacle of the Most Holy
Trinity, where he Father is everlastingly
glorified, the Son perfectly loved, and the Holy Spirit fully possessed.
I am the
door opens upon your salvation. My motherly
task is that of preparing you to receive my Son who is coming.
c Open the
doors to Christ. Jesus has come into your midst on the day of his earthly birth, by means of me, his
virginal Mother, in order to become your Savior and your sole Redeemer.
d Contemplate Him with purity of heart
and with a look of love, at the moment when He is born
of me and placed in a manger, feeling the
rigors of the cold and the chill of a world which ignores and rejects Him. This little Child who is crying is God-with-us, is the Redeemer of the world, is
the only Savior. Without Him, it is
not possible for man to find salvation.
e Open the
doors to Christ. Open the doors of your mind, to receive his divine word with
humility and docility. In the deep
darkness which envelops the minds of a humanity submerged in
errors, only his word brings you the light of truth. Make the announcement of his Gospel shine forth in the
world. Carry out the task of a new
evangelization which has been entrusted to you.
f
Bring, once again today, his word
to the poor, the sinners, the sick, the prisoners, so that they may all walk in
the light of the truth.
g Open the doors to Christ. Open the doors of your soul to receive Him in a worthy manner at the moment when He communicates Himself to you under the Eucharistic
species. It is Jesus in his divine
Person, with his glorious body and his divinity, whom you receive when you approach Holy Communion. You must prepare in your souls a dwelling place
which should be worthy of Him.
h For this reason, I urge you to flee from sin, to not allow
yourselves to become possessed by sin, to
live always in the grace and love of God.
If ever it should happen that you fall into mortal sin, sacramental
confession is necessary before receiving Holy Communion. Today my Heart bleeds to see how sacrilegious
communions are spreading more
and more, because many come to receive
Jesus in the Eucharist in a state of mortal sin without having gone to
confession.
I Therefore, let your souls be filled with
grace and holiness, so that you may receive Jesus in a worthy
manner when He gives Himself to you in the sacrament of his love.
j Open the doors to Christ. Open the doors of your heart, that you may welcome Him with the firmness
of your love. Jesus brings you to the
perfection of love. He loves in you; by means of you, his love spreads to all. He wants to love each
person whom you meet
along your way. By means of you, his divine charity spreads, and thus you become the instruments of
the triumph of his merciful love.
k Open the doors to Christ.
Open the doors of
your life to Christ when He returns
in the splendor of his glory. The Christian
life must be ever oriented to this
expectation. And so, I invite you to live in trust and in great hope. Let yourselves be carried with filial abandonment
in the arms of your Heavenly Father.
l Then, each day of this painful time will
be lived by you in serenity and joy.
Because the sufferings of the present moment are not comparable to the
glory which awaits you, when Christ will manifest Himself and you will see Him
as He is, in the blazing light of his divine splendor.”
