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Thursday, December 8

The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

clinging to Freedom with a Face

“Hail, full of grace!” In the history of the world, these words have been addressed to only one person. She is a woman. Mary of Nazareth. The angel Gabriel speaks this greeting to announce the Incarnation. At that precise moment, and with Mary’s divinely ordained consent, the eternal Son of God became man for our salvation. Heaven and earth rejoice.
The Incarnation of the Son of God touches the whole human race. No wonder that the Church encourages us to guard and cherish this great mystery: “The doctrine of faith must be firmly believed which proclaims that Jesus of Nazareth, Son of Mary, and he alone, is the Son and the Word of the Father.”
The message of the angel also tells us about the Mother of Jesus Christ. “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” God saved Mary in a way that remains unique to the Mother of the Redeemer. In view of the foreseen merits of her Son, Mary is preserved from contracting original sin. What Christ offers effectively to each person on earth, Mary receives fully at her conception. That Mary is conceived without sin enhances her freedom. She is able to love God more. Those who follow Jesus of Nazareth also cling to his Mother Mary. They recognize in her Immaculate Conception a source of hope.

Reflection based on Luke 1:26-38
Father Romanus Cessario

Loving Father, you son’s Immaculate Mother is our purity in the flesh. Deepen my devotion to Mary Immaculate.

Friday, December 9

Friday of the Second Week of Advent

Faithful to a Fact

In today’s Gospel, Jesus says that only those who do not allow their prejudices to determine what is real can recognize him.
Saint Juan Diego was one of those. He did not expect nor understand what happened to him when he first saw Our Lady. He was faithful to the fact of her presence and obedient to her words. Today we live in a culture where truth has been reduced to a matter of interpretation and opinion, not of facts. No wonder Saint Juan Diego has become politically incorrect. I personally heard an important economist say that if Mexico wants to join the developed nations of the world, it had to get rid of its Catholic faith. This means, of course, to deny the veracity of the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe’s apparition to Saint Juan Diego. And yet, all those ideological efforts to separate the Mexican people from the Church crash against the fact of a piece of clothing belonging to this Mexican native, Juan Diego’s “tilma,” where the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is miraculously engraved.
“Wisdom,” Jesus says in today’s Gospel, “is vindicated by her works.” The Christian faith is not based on an ideological agenda imposed by power. The Christian faith is based on a fact, the fact of the Incarnation. Christian life is a life of witnessing to this fact.

Reflection based on Matthew 11:16-19
Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete

Loving Father, empty me of every false idea and focus me on the fact of your Son made flesh.