Pope: Believe as Mary believed: Say ‘yes’ to God

On the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Pope Leo encouraged the faithful to believe in God as the Blessed Virgin Mary did and thus give “generous assent to the mission to which the Lord calls us.” He reminded the crowd that Mary was preserved from original sin by a unique grace from God, given in view of the future merits of Christ’s redemption: “The ‘yes’ of the Mother of the Lord is wonderful, but so also can ours be, renewed each day faithfully, with gratitude, humility and perseverance, in prayer and in concrete acts of love, from the most extraordinary gestures to the most mundane and ordinary efforts and acts of service.”