Catholic Caucus: Daily Mass Readings, 12-08-03,Solemnity, Immaculate Conception, Blessed Virgin Mary

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Thought for the Day

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

-- Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854)

Your Praises We Sing--on the Dogma of the Proclamation of the Immaculate Conception

Eastern Christianity and the Immaculate Conception

Memorandum on the Immaculate Conception [Newman]

The Word Among Us

Monday, December 08, 2003

Meditation
Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12

The Immaculate Conception

It’s easy to see that Mary was singled out to live for the praise of God’s glory: She was conceived without sin! After all, isn’t that what we are celebrating today? It’s also easy to assume that God permitted Mary to be conceived in this way because he thought she was special. The unspoken thought behind that assumption is that somehow we’re less special to God. And that is simply not true. We too have been appointed to live for the praise of his glory (Ephesians 1:12)!

Every single one of us has been decreed, before all time, by God’s divine will to be his son or daughter. God chose us. He planned that we would belong to him—his children, his treasured people (Deuteronomy 7:6), holy and blameless in his sight (Ephesians 1:4). It wasn’t just his will, it was his pleasure (1:5)! God has always been eternally committed to us.

In order to rescue us from the sin we had fallen into, God needed a pure vessel to bear his Son, our Redeemer. That’s why Mary was conceived without sin. Having chosen and created and destined us to be holy and blameless before him, God provided a way for us to return to the intimate, loving relationship he always wanted to enjoy with each of us. And Mary, conceived immaculate, was part of that plan.

What does that say about our lives? It says we are special to God! It says we can rely on him for everything. It says he will never abandon us or leave us without a way to him. God works out everything according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:11). In his eyes, each of us is equally loved, equally special, and equally unique. Brothers and sisters, today ask for a grander perspective of his love for you and of your worth in his sight.

“Glorious God, great are you in power and love! You are faithful and unchanging. You always accomplish what you intend. Your plans stand unchanged, unthwarted throughout time. Great are you, Lord, and greatly to be exalted!

One Bread, One Body

<< Monday, December 8, 2003 >>

Immaculate Conception

Genesis 3:9-15, 20
Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12

Psalm 98
Luke 1:26-38

View Readings

HOPE — EVEN UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES

God “chose us in Him before the world began, to be holy and blameless in His sight.” —Ephesians 1:4

The Lord created the human race to be with Him in Paradise. However, because of the original sin, we:

lost Paradise,
severely wounded our human nature,
fell from God’s grace, and
brought into our lives fear (Gn 3:10), shame (Gn 3:10), blame (Gn 3:12ff), pain (Gn 3:16, 19), violence (Gn 4:8), death (see Rm 6:23), self-deception, self-hatred, slavery, alienation, even damnation, and so much more.

Original sin is the most depressing fact of life. When we realize this, we cry out: “What a wretched man I am! Who can free me from this body under the power of death?” (Rm 7:24) Jesus Christ alone has freed us from original sin and its devastating effects. In fact, Jesus freed His mother Mary from ever having original sin. She was immaculately conceived. Mary is therefore “a sign of sure hope” (see Lumen Gentium, 68) for all of us that original sin with its death and damnation need not be the final word. Jesus is Lord of all, including original sin. “He is always able to save those who approach God through Him” (Heb 7:25). Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Mary Immaculate is a sign of hope pointing us to her Son, Jesus. No matter how shattered your life, broken your world, and sinful your society, look to Jesus and rejoice.

Prayer: Father, on this holy day, make me immaculate as I repent of my sins, confess them, and receive Your forgiveness.

Promise: “Nothing is impossible with God.” —Lk 1:37

Praise: Mary Immaculate is a sure sign of the sovereignty of her Son Jesus as Lord of life and Lord of time.

From: Genesis 3:9-15, 20

Temptation and the First Sin (Continuation)

[9] But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
[10] And he said, "I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was
afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself." [11] He said, "Who told you
that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree which I commanded you not to
eat?" [12] The man said, "The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave
me fruit of the tree, and I ate." [13] Then the Lord God said to the woman,
"What is this that you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent beguiled me,
and I ate." [14] The Lord said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all cattle, and above all wild animals; upon your belly
you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. [15] I will
put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he
shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

[20] The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all
living.

Commentary:

3:7-13. This passage begins the description of the effects of the original
sin. Man and woman have come to know evil, and it shows, initially, in a
most direct way--in their own bodies. The inner harmony described in
Genesis 2:25 is broken, and concupiscence rears its head. Their friendship
with God is also broken, and they flee from his presence, to avoid their
nakedness being seen. As if his Creator could not see them! The harmony
between man and woman is also fractured: he puts the blame on her, and she
puts it on the serpent. But all three share in the responsibility, and
therefore all three are going to pay the penalty.

"The harmony in which they found themselves, thanks to original justice, is
now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body
is shattered: the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions (cf.
Gen 3:7-16), their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination.
Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and
hostile to man (cf. Gen 3:17, 19). Because of man, creation is now subject
'to its bondage to decay' (Rom 8:21). Finally, the consequence explicitly
foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will 'return to the
ground' (Gen 3:19), for out of it he was taken. 'Death makes its entrance
into human history' (cf. Roman 5:12)" ("Catechism of the Catholic Church",
400).

3:14-15. The punishment God imposes on the serpent includes confrontation
between woman and the serpent, between mankind and evil, with the promise
that man will come out on top. That is why this passage is called the
"Proto-gospel": it is the first announcement to mankind of the good news of
the Redeemer-Messiah. Clearly, a bruise to the head is deadly, whereas a
bruise to the heel is curable.

As the Second Vatican Council teaches, "God, who creates and conserves all
things by his Word, (cf. In 1:3), provides men with constant evidence of
himself in created realities (cf. Rom 1:19-20). And furthermore, wishing to
open up the way to heavenly salvation, by promising redemption (cf. Gen
3:15); and he has never ceased to take care of the human race. For he wishes
to give eternal life to all those who seek salvation by patience in
well-doing (cf. Rom 2:6-7)" ("Dei Verbum", 3).

Victory over the devil will be brought about by a descendant of the woman,
the Messiah. The Church has always read these verses as being messianic,
referring to Jesus Christ; and it was seen in the woman the mother of the
promised Savior; the Virgin Mary is the new Eve. "The earliest documents, as
they are read in the Church and are understood in the light of a further and
full revelation, bring the figure of a woman, Mother of the Redeemer, into a
gradually clearer light. Considered in this light, she is already
prophetically foreshadowed in the promise of victory over the serpent which
was given to our first parents after their fall into sin (cf. Gen 3:15)
[...]. Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert with Irenaeus in
their preaching: 'the knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's
obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by
her faith' (St Irenaeus, "Adv. haer." 3, 22, 4) Comparing Mary with Eve,
they call her 'Mother of the living' (St Epiphanius, "Adv. haer. Panarium"
78, 18) and frequently claim: 'death through Eve, life through Mary' (St
Jerome, "Epistula" 22, 21; etc.)" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 55-56).

So, woman is going to have a key role in that victory over the devil. In his
Latin translation of the Bible, the "Vulgate", St Jerome in fact reads the
relevant passage as "she [the woman] shall bruise your head". That woman is
the Blessed Virgin, the new Eve and the mother of the Redeemer, who shares
(by anticipation and pre-eminently) in the victory of her Son. Sin never
left its mark on her, and the Church proclaims her as the Immaculate
Conception.

St Thomas explains that the reason why God did not prevent the first man
from sinning was because 'God allows evils to be done in order to draw forth
some greater good. Thus St Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded
all the more' (Rom 5:20); and the "Exultet" sings, '0 happy fault,...which
gained for us so great a Redeemer'" ("Summa Theologiae", 3, 1, 3 and 3; cf.
"Catechism of the Catholic Church", 412).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12

Hymn of Praise

[3] Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places, [4] even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. [5] He destined
us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the
purpose of his will, [6] to the praise of his glorious grace which he
freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

[11] In him, according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all
things according to the counsel of his will, [12] we who first hoped
in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of
his glory.

Commentary:

3-14. Verses 3-14 are a hymn of praise to God for the plan of salvation
he has devised and brought to fulfillment in benefit of men and all
creation. It is written in a liturgical style of rhythmic prose,
similar to that in Colossians 1:15-20. In the Greek it is one long
complex sentence full of relative pronouns and clauses which give it a
designed unity; we can, however, distinguish two main sections.

The first (v. 3-10), divided into four stanzas, describes the blessings
contained in God's salvific plan; St Paul terms this plan the "mystery"
of God's will. The section begins by praising God for his eternal
design, a plan, pre-dating creation, to call us to the Church, to form
a community of saints (first stanza: vv. 3f) and receive the grace of
being children of God through Jesus Christ (second stanza: vv. 5f). It
then reflects on Christ's work of redemption which brings this eternal
plan of God to fulfillment (third stanza: vv. 7f). This section reaches
its climax in the fourth stanza (vv. 9f) which proclaims Christ as Lord
of all creation, thereby revealing the full development of God's
salvific plan.

The second section, which divides into two stanzas, deals with the
application of this plan--first to the Jews (fifth stanza: vv. 11f) and
then to the Gentiles, who are also called to share what God has
promised: Jews and Gentiles join to form a single people, the Church
(sixth stanza: vv. 13f).

Hymns in praise of God, or "eulogies", occur in many parts of Sacred
Scripture (cf. Ps 8; Ps 19; Dan 2:20-23; Lk 1:46-54, 68-78; etc.); they
praise the Lord for the wonders of creation or for spectacular
interventions on behalf of his people. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, St
Paul here praises God the Father for all Christ's saving work, which
extends from God's original plan which he made before he created the
world, right up to the very end of time and the recapitulation of all
things in Christ.

We too should always have this same attitude of praise of the Lord.
"Our entire life on earth should take the form of praise of God, for
the never-ending joy of our future life consists in praising God, and
no one can become fit for that future life unless he train himself to
render that praise now" (St Augustine, "Enarrationes in Psalmos",
148).

Praise is in fact the most appropriate attitude for man to have towards
God: "How can you dare use that spark of divine intelligence--your
mind--in anything but in giving glory to your Lord?" ([St] J. Escriva, "The
Way", 782).

3. St Paul blesses God as Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because it is
through Christ that all God's blessings and gifts reach us. God's
actions in favor of man are actions of all three divine Persons; the
divine plan which the Apostle considers here has its origin in the
Blessed Trinity; it is eternal. "These three Persons are not to be
considered separable," the Eleventh Council of Toledo teaches, "since
we believe that not one of them existed or at any time effected
anything before the other, after the other, or without the other. For
in existence and operation they are found to be inseparable" ("De
Trinitate" Creed, "Dz-Sch", 531).

In the implementation of this divine plan of salvation, the work of
Redemption is attributed to the Son and that of sanctification to the
Holy Spirit. "To help us grasp in some measure this unfathomable
mystery, we might imagine the Blessed Trinity taking counsel together
in their uninterrupted intimate relationship of infinite love. As a
result of their eternal decision, the only-begotten Son of God the
Father takes on our human condition and bears the burden of our
wretchedness and sorrows, to end up sewn with nails to a piece of wood"
([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 95).

St Paul describes as "spiritual blessings" all the gifts which the
implementation of God's plan implies, gifts which are distributed by
the Holy Spirit. When he speaks of them as being "in the heavenly
places" and "in Christ", he is saying that through Christ who has risen
from the dead and ascended on high we too have been inserted into the
world of God (cf. 1:20; 2:6).

When man describes God as "blessed" it means he recognizes God's
greatness and goodness, and rejoices over the divine gifts he has
received (cf. Lk 1:46, 68). Here is what St Thomas Aquinas has to say
about the meaning of this passage: "The Apostle says, 'Benedictus'
[Blessed be the God ...], that is, may I, and you, and everyone bless
him, with our heart, our mouth, our actions--praising him as God and as
Father, for he is God because of his essence and Father because of his
power to generate" ("Commentary on Eph.", 1, 6).

Sacred Scripture very often invites us to praise God our Lord (cf. Ps
8:19; 33; 46-48; etc.); this is not a matter only of verbal praise: our
actions should prove that we mean what we say: "He who does good with
his hands praises the Lord, and he who confesses the Lord with his
mouth praises the Lord. Praise him by your actions" (St Augustine,
"Enarrationes in Psalmos", 91, 2).

4. As the hymn develops, the Apostle details each of the blessings
contained in God's eternal plan. The first of these is his choice,
before the foundation of the world, of those who would become part of
the Church. The word he uses, translated here as "chose", is the same
one as used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament to refer to
God's election of Israel. The Church, the new people of God, is
constituted by assembling in and around Christ those who have been
chosen and called to holiness. This implies that although the Church
was founded by Christ at a particular point in history, its origin goes
right back to the eternal divine plan. 'The eternal Father, in
accordance with the utterly gratuitous and mysterious design of his
wisdom and goodness,... 'predestined (the elect) to be conformed to
the image of his Son in order that he might be the first-born among
many brethren' (Rom 8:29). He determined to call together in a holy
Church those who believe in Christ. Already present in figure at the
beginning of the world, this Church was prepared in marvelous fashion
in the history of the people of Israel and in the Old Alliance.
Established in this last age of the world, and made manifest in the
outpouring of the Spirit, it will be brought to glorious completion at
the end of time" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium", 2).

God's choice seeks to have us become "holy and blameless before him".
In the same way as in the Old Testament a victim offered to God had to
be unblemished, blameless (cf. Gen 17:1), the blameless holiness to
which God has destined us admits of no imperfection. By the very fact
of being baptized we are made holy (cf. note on 1: 1), and during our
lifetime we try to grow holier with the help of God; however, complete
holiness is something we shall attain only in heaven.

The holiness with which we have been endowed is an undeserved gift from
God: it is not a reward for any merit on our part: even before we were
created God chose us to be his: "'He chose us in him before the
foundation of the world, that we should be holy.' I know that such
thoughts don't fill you with pride or lead you to think yourself better
than others. That choice, the root of your vocation, should be the
basis of your humility. Do we build monuments to an artist's
paintbrush? Granted the brush had a part in creating masterpieces, but
we give credit only to the painter. We Christians are nothing more than
instruments in the hands of the Creator of the world, the Redeemer of
all men" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 1).

"He destined us in love": the loving initiative is God's. "If God has
honored us with countless gifts it is thanks to his love, not to our
merits. Our fervor, our strength, our faith and our unity are the
fruit of God's benevolence and our response to his goodness" (St John
Chrysostom, "Hom. on Eph, ad loc".).

God's election of Christians and their vocation to holiness, as also
the gift of divine filiation, reveals that God is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8);
we have become partakers of God's very nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4), sharers,
that is, in the love of God.

"He destined us in love", therefore, also includes the Christian's love
of God and of others: charity is a sharing in God's own love; it is the
essence of holiness, the Christian's law; nothing has any value if it
is not inspired by charity (cf. 1 Cor 13:1-3).

5. The Apostle goes on to explore the further implications of God's
eternal plan: those chosen to form part of the Church have been given a
second blessing, as it were, by being predestined to be adoptive
children of God. 'The state of this people is that of the dignity and
freedom of the sons of God, in whose hearts the Holy Spirit dwells as
in a temple" (Vatican II, "Lumen Gentium, 9).

This predestination to which the Apostle refers means that God
determined from all eternity that the members of the new people of God
should attain holiness through his gift of adoptive sonship. It is
God's desire that all be saved (cf. 1 Tim 2:4) and he gives each person
the means necessary for obtaining eternal life. Therefore, no one is
predestined to damnation (cf. Third Council of Valence, "De
Praedestinatione", can. 3).

The source of the Christian's divine sonship is Jesus Christ. God's
only Son, one in substance with the Father, took on human nature in
order to make us sons and daughters of God by adoption (cf. Rom 8:15,
29; 9:4; Gal 4:5). This is why every member of the Church can say: "See
what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of
God; and so we are" (1 Jn 3:1).

What is involved here is not simply formal adoption, which is something
external and does not affect the very person of the child. Divine
adoption affects man's entire being, it inserts him into God's own
life; for Baptism makes us truly his children, partakers of the divine
nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4). Divine sonship is therefore the greatest of
the gifts God bestows on man during his life on earth. It is indeed
right to exclaim "Blessed be God" (v. 3) when one reflects on this
great gift: it is right for children openly to acknowledge their father
and show their love for him.

Divine filiation has many rich effects as far as the spiritual life is
concerned. "A child of God treats the Lord as his Father. He is not
obsequious and servile; he is not merely formal and well-mannered: he
is completely sincere and trusting. God is not shocked by what we do.
Our infidelities do not wear him out. our Father in heaven pardons any
offense when his child returns to him, when he repents and asks for
pardon. The Lord is such a good father that he anticipates our desire
to be pardoned and comes forward to us, opening his arms laden with
grace" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 64). See the notes on Jn
1:12.

6. The gift of divine filiation is the greatest expression of the glory
of God (cf. note on 1:17 below), because it reveals the full extent of
God's love for man. St Paul stresses what the purpose of this eternal
divine plan is--to promote "the praise of his glorious grace". God's
glory has been made manifest through his merciful love, which has led
him to make us his children in accordance with the eternal purpose of
his will. This eternal design "flows from 'fountain-like love', the
love of God the Father [...]. God in his great and merciful kindness
freely creates us and, moreover, graciously calls us to share in his
life and glory. He generously pours out, and never ceases to pour out,
his divine goodness, so that he who is Creator of all things might at
last become 'everything to everyone' (1 Cor 15:28), thus simultaneously
assuring his own glory and our happiness" (Vatican II, "Ad Gentes",
2).

The grace which St Paul speaks of here and which manifests the glory of
God refers first to the fact that God's blessings are totally unmerited
by us and include the grace-conferring gifts of holiness and divine
filiation.

"In the Beloved": the Old Testament stresses again and again that God
loves his people and that Israel is that cherished people (cf. Deut
33:12; is 5:1, 7; 1 Mac 6:11; etc.). In the New Testament Christians
are called "beloved by God" (1 Thess 1:4; cf. Col 3:12). However, there
is only one "Beloved", strictly speaking, Jesus Christ our Lord--as God
revealed from the bright cloud at the Transfiguration: "This is my
beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Mt 17:5). The Son of his
love has obtained man's redemption and brought forgiveness of sins (cf.
Col 1:13ff), and it is through his grace that we become pleasing to
God, lovable by him with the same love with which he loves his Son. At
the Last Supper, Jesus asked his Father for this very thing--"so that
the world may know that thou hast sent me and hast loved them even as
thou hast loved me" (Jn 17:23). "Notice", St John Chrysostom points
out, "that Paul does not say that this grace has been given us for no
purpose but that it has been given us to make us pleasing and lovable
in his eyes, now that we are purified of our sins" ("Hom. on Eph, ad
loc.").

11-14. The Apostle now contemplates a further divine blessing--the
implementation of the "mystery" through the Redemption wrought by
Christ: God calls the Jews (vv. 11f) and the Gentiles (v. 13)
together, to form a single people (v. 14). Paul first refers to the
Jewish people, of which he himself is a member, which is why he uses
the term "we" (v. 12). He then speaks of the Gentile Christians and
refers to them as "you" (v. 13).

11-12. The Jewish people's expectations have been fulfilled in Christ:
he has brought the Kingdom of God and the messianic gifts, designed in
the first instance for Israel as its inheritance (cf. Mt 4:17; 12:28;
Lk 4:16-22). God's intention in selecting Israel was to form a people
of his own (cf. Ex 19:5) that would glorify him and proclaim to the
nations its hope in a coming Messiah. "God, with loving concern
contemplating, and making preparation for, the salvation of the whole
human race, in a singular undertaking chose for himself a people to
whom he would entrust his promises. By his covenant with Abraham (cf.
Gen 15:18) and, through Moses, with the race of Israel (cf. Ex 24:8),
he did acquire a people for himself, and to them he revealed himself in
words and deeds as the one, true, living God, so that Israel might
experience the ways of God with men. Moreover, by listening to the
voice of God speaking to them through the prophets, they had steadily
to understand his ways more fully and more clearly, and make them more
widely known among the nations (cf. Ps 21:28-9; 95:1-3; Is 2:1-4; Jer
3:17)" (Vatican II, "Dei Verbum", 14).

St Paul emphasizes that even before the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the just of the Old Testament acted in line with their belief
in the promised Messiah (cf. Gal 3:11; Rom 1:17); not only did they
look forward to his coming but their hope was nourished by faith in
Christ as a result of their acceptance of God's promise. As later
examples of this same faith we might mention Zechariah and Elizabeth;
Simeon and Anna; and, above all, St Joseph. St Joseph's faith was
"full, confident, complete", Monsignor Escriva comments. "It expressed
itself in an effective dedication to the will of God and an intelligent
obedience. With faith went love. His faith nurtured his love of God,
who was fulfilling the promises made to Abraham, Jacob and Moses, and
his affection for Mary his wife and his fatherly affection for Jesus.
This faith, hope and love would further the great mission which God
was beginning in the world through, among others, a carpenter in
Galilee--the redemption of mankind" ("Christ Is Passing By", 42).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

From: Luke 1:26-38

The Annunciation and Incarnation of the Son of God

[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city
of Galilee named Nazareth, [27] to a virgin betrothed to man whose name
was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
[28] And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is
with you!" [29] But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and
considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be. [30] And
the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found
favor with God. [31] And behold you will conceive in your womb and
bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. [32] He will be great,
and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give
to Him the throne of His father David, [33] and He will reign over the
house of Jacob for ever; and of His Kingdom there will be no end."
[34] And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no
husband?" [35] And the angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come
upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore
the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. [36] And
behold, your kinswoman Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a
son; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. [37]
For with God nothing will be impossible." [38] And Mary said, "Behold,
I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your
word." And the angel departed from her.

Commentary:

26-38. Here we contemplate our Lady who was "enriched from the first
instant of her conception with the splendor of an entirely unique
holiness; [...] the virgin of Nazareth is hailed by the heralding
angel, by divine command, as `full of grace' (cf. Luke 1:28), and to
the heavenly messenger she replies, `Behold the handmaid of the Lord,
be it done unto me according to thy word' (Luke 1:38). Thus the
daughter of Adam, Mary, consenting to the word of God, became the
Mother of Jesus. Committing herself wholeheartedly to God's saving
will and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally, as a handmaid
of the Lord, to the person and work of her Son, under and with Him,
serving the mystery of Redemption, by the grace of Almighty God.
Rightly, therefore, the Fathers (of the Church) see Mary not merely as
passively engaged by God, but as freely cooperating in the work of
man's salvation through faith and obedience" (Vatican II, "Lumen
Gentium", 56).

The annunciation to Mary and incarnation of the Word constitute the
deepest mystery of the relationship between God and men and the most
important event in the history of mankind: God becomes man, and will
remain so forever, such is the extent of His goodness and mercy and
love for all of us. And yet on the day when the Second Person of the
Blessed Trinity assumed frail human nature in the pure womb of the
Blessed Virgin, it all happened quietly, without fanfare of any kind.

St. Luke tells the story in a very simple way. We should treasure
these words of the Gospel and use them often, for example, practising
the Christian custom of saying the Angelus every day and reflecting on
the five Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary.

27. God chose to be born of a virgin; centuries earlier He disclosed
this through the prophet Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22-23). God,
"before all ages made choice of, and set in her proper place, a mother
for His only-begotten Son from whom He, after being made flesh, should
be born in the blessed fullness of time: and He continued His
persevering regard for her in preference to all other creatures, to
such a degree that for her alone He had singular regard" (Pius IX,
"Ineffabilis Deus," 2). This privilege granted to our Lady of being a
virgin and a mother at the same time is a unique gift of God. This was
the work of the Holy Spirit "who at the conception and the birth of
the Son so favored the Virgin Mother as to impart fruitfulness to her
while preserving inviolate her perpetual virginity" ("St. Pius V
Catechism," I, 4, 8). Paul VI reminds us of this truth of faith: "We
believe that the Blessed Mary, who ever enjoys the dignity of
virginity, was the Mother of the incarnate Word, of our God and Savior
Jesus Christ" ("Creed of the People of God", 14).

Although many suggestions have been made as to what the name Mary
means, most of the best scholars seem to agree that Mary means "lady".
However, no single meaning fully conveys the richness of the name.

28. "Hail, full of grace": literally the Greek text reads "Rejoice!",
obviously referring to the unique joy over the news which the angel is
about to communicate.

"Full of grace": by this unusual form of greeting the archangel reveals
Mary's special dignity and honor. The Fathers and Doctors of the
Church "taught that this singular, solemn and unheard-of-greeting
showed that all the divine graces reposed in the Mother of God and that
she was adorned with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit", which meant
that she "was never subject to the curse", that is, was preserved from
all sin. These words of the archangel in this text constitute one of
the sources which reveal the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception (cf.
Pius IX, "Ineffabilis Deus"; Paul VI, "Creed of the People of God").

"The Lord is with you!": these words are not simply a greeting ("the
Lord be with you") but an affirmation ("the Lord is with you"), and
they are closely connected with the Incarnation. St. Augustine
comments by putting these words on the archangel's lips: "He is more
with you than He is with me: He is in your heart, He takes shape within
you, He fills your soul, He is in your womb" ("Sermo De Nativitate
Domini", 4).

Some important Greek manuscripts and early translations add at the end
of the verse: "Blessed are you among women!", meaning that God will
exalt Mary over all women. She is more excellent than Sarah, Hannah,
Deborah, Rachel, Judith, etc., for only she has the supreme honor of
being chosen to be the Mother of God.

29-30. Our Lady is troubled by the presence of the archangel and by the
confusion truly humble people experience when they receive praise.

30. The Annunciation is the moment when our Lady is given to know the
vocation which God planned for her from eternity. When the archangel
sets her mind at ease by saying, "Do not be afraid, Mary," he is
helping her to overcome that initial fear which a person normally
experiences when God gives him or her a special calling. The fact that
Mary felt this fear does not imply the least trace of imperfection in
her: hers is a perfectly natural reaction in the face of the
supernatural. Imperfection would arise if one did not overcome this
fear or rejected the advice of those in a position to help--as St.
Gabriel helped Mary.

31-33. The archangel Gabriel tells the Blessed Virgin Mary that she is
to be the Mother of God by reminding her of the words of Isaiah which
announced that the Messiah would be born of a virgin, a prophecy which
will find its fulfillment in Mary (cf. Matthew 1:22-23; Isaiah 7:14).

He reveals that the Child will be "great": His greatness comes from His
being God, a greatness He does not lose when He takes on the lowliness
of human nature. He also reveals that Jesus will be the king of the
Davidic dynasty sent by God in keeping with His promise of salvation;
that His Kingdom will last forever, for His humanity will remain
forever joined to His divinity; that "He will be called Son of the Most
High", that is that He really will be the Son of the Most High and will
be publicly recognized as such, that is, the Child will be the Son of
God.

The archangel's announcement evokes the ancient prophecies which
foretold these prerogatives. Mary, who was well-versed in Sacred
Scripture, clearly realized that she was to be the Mother of God.

34-38. Commenting on this passage John Paul II said: "`Virgo fidelis',
the faithful Virgin. What does this faithfulness of Mary mean? What
are the dimensions of this faithfulness? The first dimension is called
search. Mary was faithful first of all when she began, lovingly, to
seek the deep sense of God's plan in her and for the world. `Quomodo
fiet?' How shall this be?, she asked the Angel of the Annunciation
[...]."

"The second dimension of faithfulness is called reception, acceptance.
The `quomodo fiet?' is changed, on Mary's lips, to a `fiat': Let it be
done, I am ready, I accept. This is the crucial moment of
faithfulness, the moment in which man perceives that he will never
completely understand the `how': that there are in God's plan more
areas of mystery than of clarity; that is, however he may try, he will
never succeed in understanding it completely[...]."

"The third dimension of faithfulness is consistency to live in
accordance with what one believes; to adapt one's own life to the
object of one's adherence. To accept misunderstanding, persecutions,
rather than a break between what one practises and what one believes:
this is consistency[...]."

"But all faithfulness must pass the most exacting test, that of
duration. Therefore, the fourth dimension of faithfulness is
constancy. It is easy to be consistent for a day or two. It is
difficult and important to be consistent for one's whole life. It is
easy to be consistent in the hour of enthusiasm, it is difficult to be
so in the hour of tribulation. And only a consistency that lasts
throughout the whole life can be called faithfulness. Mary's `fiat' in
the Annunciation finds its fullness in the silent `fiat' that she
repeats at the foot of the Cross" ("Homily in Mexico City Cathedral",
26 January 1979).

34. Mary believed in the archangel's words absolutely; she did not
doubt as Zechariah had done (cf. 1:18). Her question, "How can this
be?", expresses her readiness to obey the will of God even though at
first sight it implied a contradiction: on the one hand, she was
convinced that God wished her to remain a virgin; on the other, here
was God also announcing that she would become a mother. The archangel
announces God's mysterious design, and what had seemed impossible,
according to the laws of nature, is explained by a unique intervention
on the part of God.

Mary's resolution to remain a virgin was certainly something very
unusual, not in line with the practice of righteous people under the
Old Covenant, for, as St. Augustine explains, "particularly attentive
to the propagation and growth of the people of God, through whom the
Prince and Savior of the world might be prophesied and be born, the
saints were obliged to make use of the good of matrimony" ("De Bono
Matrimonii", 9, 9). However, in the Old Testament, there were some who,
in keeping with God's plan, did remain celibate--for example, Jeremiah,
Elijah, Eliseus and John the Baptist. The Blessed Virgin, who received
a very special inspiration of the Holy Spirit to practise virginity, is
a first-fruit of the New Testament, which will establish the excellence
of virginity over marriage while not taking from the holiness of the
married state, which it raises to the level of a sacrament (cf.
"Gaudium Et Spes", 48).

35. The "shadow" is a symbol of the presence of God. When Israel was
journeying through the wilderness, the glory of God filled the
Tabernacle and a cloud covered the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus
40:34-36). And when God gave Moses the tablets of the Law, a cloud
covered Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:15-16); and also, at the Transfiguration
of Jesus the voice of God the Father was heard coming out of a cloud
(Luke 9:35).

At the moment of the Incarnation the power of God envelops our Lady--an
expression of God's omnipotence. The Spirit of God--which, according
to the account in Genesis (1:2), moved over the face of the waters,
bringing things to life--now comes down on Mary. And the fruit of her
womb will be the work of the Holy Spirit. The Virgin Mary, who herself
was conceived without any stain of sin (cf. Pius IX, "Ineffabilis
Deus") becomes, after the Incarnation, a new tabernacle of God. This
is the mystery we recall every day when saying the Angelus.

38. Once she learns of God's plan, our Lady yields to God's will with
prompt obedience, unreservedly. She realizes the disproportion between
what she is going to become--the Mother of God--and what she is--a
woman. However, this is what God wants to happen and for Him nothing
is impossible; therefore no one should stand in His way. So Mary,
combining humility and obedience, responds perfectly to God's call:
"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done according to
your word."

"At the enchantment of this virginal phrase, the Word became flesh"
(J. Escriva, "Holy Rosary", first joyful mystery). From the
pure body of Mary, God shaped a new body, He created a soul out of
nothing, and the Son of God united Himself with this body and soul:
prior to this He was only God; now He is still God but also man. Mary
is now the Mother of God. This truth is a dogma of faith, first
defined by the Council of Ephesus (431). At this point she also begins
to be the spiritual Mother of all mankind. What Christ says when He is
dying--`Behold, your son..., behold, your mother" (John
19:26-27)--simply promulgates what came about silently at Nazareth.
"With her generous `fiat' (Mary) became, through the working of the
Spirit, the Mother of God, but also the Mother of the living, and, by
receiving into her womb the one Mediator, she became the true Ark of
the Covenant and true Temple of God" (Paul VI, "Marialis Cultus", 6).

The Annunciation shows us the Blessed Virgin as perfect model of
"purity" (the RSV "I have no husband" is a euphemism); of "humility"
("Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord"); of "candor" and "simplicity"
("How can this be?"); of "obedience" and "lively faith" ("Let it be done
to me according to your word"). "Following her example of obedience to
God, we can learn to serve delicately without being slavish. In Mary,
we don't find the slightest trace of the attitude of the foolish
virgins, who obey, but thoughtlessly. Our Lady listens attentively to
what God wants, ponders what she doesn't fully understand and asks about
what she doesn't know. Then she gives herself completely to doing the
divine will: `Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to
me according to your word'. Isn't that marvellous? The Blessed
Virgin, our teacher in all we do, shows us here that obedience to God
is not servile, does not bypass our conscience. We should be inwardly
moved to discover the `freedom of the children of God' (cf. Romans
8:21)" ([St] J. Escriva, "Christ Is Passing By", 173).

Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.

FEAST OF THE DAY

The feast of the Immaculate Conception has a long history in the
Catholic Church. It was first celebrated in the Eastern Church, and
was widespread there by the seventh century. Over the next century
it spread to the West and gained wide popularity. In the eleventh
century, the feast changed from being the Conception of Mary to the
Immaculate Conception. The feast became a feast of the universal
Church in 1854 by the decree of Pope Pius IX.

This feast celebrates the fact that Mary was conceived without sin,
and from the first moment of her life Mary was a pure, spotless
vessel created as a special tool of God. Unlike many theological
dogmas, this fact was developed more by the Faithful and their
devotion to the Blessed Mother than by theologians.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Mary gave to the wold the Life that renews all things and she was
enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. It is no wonder,
then, that the usage prevailed among the holy Fathers whereby they
called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin,
fashioned by the Holy Spirit into a kind of new substance and new
creature. Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the
splendors of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is, on
God's command, greeted by an angel messenger as "full of grace".
To the heavenly messenger she replies: "Behold the handmaid of the
Lord, be it done to me according to thy word." - Constitution on the
Church, (56)

TODAY IN HISTORY

1854 Pope Pius IX proclaims Immaculate Conception in his apostolic
letter, "Ineffabilis Deus."
1869 20th Roman Catholic ecumenical council, Vatican I, opens in
Rome
1941 US enters WW II

TODAY'S TIDBIT

Many people confuse today's feast as the celebration of Jesus'
conception. This is celebrated on the feast of the Annunciation on
March 25, nine months before Christmas. Today's feast celebrates
Mary's conception by Joachim and Anne. Her birthday is nine
months from now on September 8.

INTENTION FOR THE DAY

Please pray for all expectant mothers.

Immaculate Conception
Question from Lindsey on 10-27-2003:

Where in the bible (if any where at all) does it talk about Mary's Immaculate Conception?

Answer by Colin B. Donovan, STL on 10-28-2003:

It's there, as long as you are not expecting to find the words, any more than you will find Trinity and many other terms which even non-Catholic Christians take for granted.

Lets start with what it means. To be immaculate conceived means to be free from the guilt of Adam's sin and sanctified in body and soul from the first moment of existence. This is hardly an impossibly thing. By baptism every Christian has sin forgiven and grace given, so forgiveness and grace we take for granted. Jesus, in his human nature, was certainly conceived without original sin. Adam and Eve were created by God in perfect integrity, with His grace, His Divine Life, infused into their souls at their first moment of their existence. So, it is hardly impossible that Mary was immaculate conceived. The question is, was she? Lets look at the evidence.

As I have already alluded, the Old Testament sets the stage. The book of Genesis tells us how God created Adam and Eve and placed them in paradise. It tells us how they disobeyed God and lost the gifts that He gave them. From one moment to the next they went from being naked and not ashamed to being naked and ashamed (Gen 2:25, 3:10). This change reflected the loss of the innocence which was God's gift of grace brought about in them at their creation. This loss, which is communicated to their descendants, Christians call Original Sin -- to be conceived without God's grace within, subject to weakness of intellect and will, the rebellion of the passions, as well as, sickness and death (Romans 5:12ff, 1 Cor. 15:22ff). It also places all mankind as subjects of Satan, since whoever sins belongs to him (1 John 3:8) and we have all sinned (Romans 5:12).

What then of Mary? If all have sinned is she not numbered among them? A short answer would be that Christ would have to be too, since the text does not say "all but Christ." We take His exemption for granted, of course, because elsewhere in Scripture it is clear that He is God, the sinless one. We have to consider, then, in the total biblical context, whether we can say that there is evidence of Mary's exemption, too. Indeed, there is.

Consider again the Old Covenant, which prepares the way for Christ by types and figures which foreshadow the mysteries of the Christian economy of salvation. In the Old Covenant, the Word of God is the Torah, represented at its heart by the Ten Commandments, the two tablets, which out of reverence for God's Word, and at His command, were placed in a wooden Ark, upon which the glory of God descended in a visible fashion to indicate God's Presence with His People. The Tablets are types of the Eternal Word, the Son of God, who pitched His tent among us at the Incarnation (John 1:14), as the Meeting Tent was pitched in the midst of Israel. The Tablets, of course, were kept in the Ark out of the sight of men. The Ark itself was designed by God. It was holy by virtue of the Tablets within. No man could touch it unbidden, and one man died for doing so even with a good intention (1 Chr. 3;10).

The Ark is a type of Mary, who bore the Son of God into this world. And like the Ark, Mary was established by God in holiness and preserved untouched by man (a Virgin before, during and after the birth of Christ). How could the Son of God come into the world in any other way? Since He took His flesh from Mary alone, how could He enter a vessel of sin, subject to the kingdom of Satan? The Church maintains He did not, since it would insult His holiness to claim so, and it is implicit in the carefully prepared and unified economy of the Old and New Testament that He did not. Rather, the Father prepared an Ark worthy of His Son, free from the moment of conception from sin and subjection to God's enemy. He did this not for her honor, but for His honor. And He accomplished Her preservation from both original and personal sin by His grace, granted in virtue of the Son's merits foreseen from eternity. For God, who exists outside time, what could be easier.

There is, finally, a New Testament text which sums this up quite well. Elizabeth says to Mary that she is "blessed among women." In Aramaic or Hebrew this is saying that she is the most blessed of all women. This is then parallelled with the blessedness of the fruit of her womb, Jesus, the Son of God (Lk. 1:42). This should lead us back to Genesis where the story began. In Genesis we have a man and a woman who draw down God's curse upon them (Gen. 3), subjecting themselves and their descendants to the Kingdom of Satan. In Luke, we find a man and a woman who draw down God's blessing, and restore the fallen order of the human race. This is why the Fathers of the Church often speak of Mary as the New Eve. It is the consequence of her role in salvation. But back to the text. Mary is blessed among woman, which would include Eve. Eve was created in justice, but lost it. If Mary was conceived in original sin and then committed personal sins, as, sadly, many Christians maintain, then she is not greater than Eve. However, if like Eve she was created/conceived in grace, but unlike Eve she never lost it through personal sin, then the text is fulfilled, she IS greater than all women. She becomes in the spiritual order "the mother of all the living" (Gen. 3:20), which is what the Fathers and the Catholic Church maintain the Scriptures teach.

Immaculate Conception

O Father,
you prepared the Virgin Mary
to be the worthy mother
of your Son.
…Help us by her prayers,
to live in your presence
without sin.
Amen.

—Images of Mary

Homily of the Day

Homily of the Day

Title:	She Was Almost Invisible, But She Gave Birth to Him!
Author:	Monsignor Dennis Clark, Ph.D.
Date:	Monday, December 8, 2003

As we look across the span of recorded history, we find the exploits of leaders, scholars, adventurers, inventors, and explorers whose achievements changed forever the world that we live in. And we wonder how they rose to greatness, as often as not from humble beginnings. More often than not, our wonderings go unanswered, because there is rarely a useful record of their formative years, and even less useful records of those invisible people who did the forming and shaping of their intellects and their souls.

The feast we mark today celebrates that simple peasant girl whose heart was so open to God that she gave birth to God’s only Son, whom she then tended and guided for the many years that followed. What an extraordinary privilege that was, and with what grace Mary lived up to her special calling at every moment. At the very first moment of it all, she said to the angel, “I don’t understand how this can be, but my answer to God is yes.” And so it was all her life long.

That is why we celebrate this and all the feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, because she, a human being just like us, had both the ability and the willingness to say “yes” to God at every moment. In doing that, she made the right home and formed the right heart in God’s Son and her son Jesus.

Mary is the almost-invisible woman in the Gospels, but her gift to Jesus was beyond calculation. The gifts that we have to give will in the long run also be almost entirely invisible except to those who can read the fine lines of cause and effect from generation to generation. Give your gift as Mary did. History may never notice, but God will, and so will many of His children.

Mary is the almost-invisible woman in the Gospels, but...

...but the human desire to worship a goddess overcame the lack of facts.

You think she's a goddess? She's not. Everything about Mary points to her son, Jesus.

I'm on my way to 7:00 PM Mass in about 15 minutes too.

Amazing, isn't it, how much reading the readings before hand helps.

...but the human desire to ~~worship~~ venerate a ~~goddess~~ Mother overcame the lack of ~~facts~~ faith.

When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. JOHN 19:26-27

If you claim the title Christian, bear in mind that she is His mother. And, therefore, in the Life of His Grace - your mother!