December Devotion: The Immaculate Conception
Since the 16th century Catholic piety has assigned entire months to special devotions. The month of December is traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Conception. The Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first moment of her conception, by a singular privilege of Almighty God, and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, our Savior and hers, was preserved from all stain of original sin. This age-old belief of the Church was defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854 as an article of revealed truth. Mary was in need of redemption and she was indeed redeemed by the Precious Blood of Jesus Christ. The manner of Mary's redemption, however, was unique. Instead of being freed from original sin after having contracted it, she was preserved from contracting it. This was a most fitting favor for the Mother of the Redeemer.
INVOCATION
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
TO THE VIRGIN IMMACULATE
O Virgin Immaculate, Mother of God and my Mother, from thy sublime height turn upon me thine eyes of pity. Filled with confidence in thy goodness and knowing full well thy power, I beseech thee to extend to. me thine assistance in the journey of life, which is so full of dangers for my soul. And in order that I may never be the slave of the devil through sin, , but may ever live with my heart humble and pure, I entrust myself wholly to thee. I consecrate my heart to thee for ever, my only desire being to love thy divine Son Jesus. Mary, none of thy devout servants has ever perished; may I too be saved. Amen.
PRAYER OF PRAISE
O pure and immaculate and likewise blessed Virgin, who art the sinless Mother of thy Son, the mighty Lord of the universe, thou who art inviolate and altogether holy, the hope of the hopeless and sinful, we sing thy praises. We bless thee, as full of every grace, thou who didst bear the God-Man: we all bow low before thee; we invoke thee and implore thine aid. Rescue us, 0 holy and inviolate Virgin, from every necessity that presses upon us and from all the temptations of the devil. Be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment; deliver us from the fire that is not extinguished and from the outer darkness; make us worthy of the glory of thy Son, O dearest and most clement Virgin Mother. Thou indeed art our only hope, most sure and sacred in God's sight, to whom be honor and glory, majesty and dominion for ever and ever world without end. Amen.
Saint Ephrem the Syrian
PRAYER OF POPE PIUS XII
This prayer, dedicated to Mary Immaculate, was composed by the Pope for the Marian Year (December 8, 1953-December 8, 1954), which was proclaimed to mark the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
Enraptured by the splendor of your heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into your arms, 0 Immacuate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in your most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbor from the tempests which beset us on every side.
Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of sublime gifts with which God has filled you, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of your conception until the day on which, after your assumption into heaven, He crowned you Queen of the Universe.
O crystal fountain of faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate our hearts with your heavenly perfume! 0 Conqueress of evil and death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of hell!
O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy Church, make all men feel the attraction of Christian goodness. In your name, resounding harmoniously in heaven, may they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace.
Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications, and above all obtain for us that, one day, happy with you, we may repeat before your throne that hymn which today is sung on earth around your altars: You are all-beautiful, O Mary! You are the glory, you are the joy, you are the honor of our people! Amen.
Prayer Source: Prayer Book, The by Reverend John P. O'Connell, M.A., S.T.D. and Jex Martin, M.A., The Catholic Press, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1954
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From: Matthew 15:29-37
The Canaanite Woman (Continuation)
[29] And Jesus went on from there and passed along the Sea of Gali-
lee. And He went up into the hills, and sat down there. [30] And great
crowds came to Him, bringing with them the lame, the maimed, the
blind, the dumb, and many others, and they put them at His feet, and
He healed them, [31] so that the throng wondered, when they saw the
dumb speaking, the maimed whole, the lame walking, and the blind
seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
Second Miracle of the Loaves
[32] Then Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I have com-
passion on the crowd, because they have been with Me now three
days, and having nothing to eat; and I am unwilling to send them away
hungry, lest they faint on the way.” [33] And the disciples said to Him,
“Where are we to get bread enough in the desert to feed so great a
crowd?” [34] And Jesus said to them, “How many loaves have you?”
They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” [35] And commanding the
crowd to sit down on the ground, [36] He took the seven loaves and the
fish, and having given thanks He broke them and gave them to the dis-
ciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. [37] And they all
ate and were satisfied; and they took up seven baskets full of the bro-
ken pieces left over.
Commentary:
29-31. Here St. Matthew summarizes Jesus’ activity in this border area
where Jews and pagans were living side by side. As usual He teaches
and heals the sick; the Gospel account clearly echoes the prophecy
of Isaiah which Christ Himself used to prove that He was the Messiah
(Luke 7:22): “the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the
deaf unstopped...” (Isaiah 35:5).
“They glorified the God of Israel”: this clearly refers to the Gentiles,
who thought that God could give the power to work miracles to Jews
only. Once again the Gentiles are seen to have more faith than the
Jews.
32. The Gospels speak of our Lord’s mercy and compassion towards
people’s needs: here He is concerned about the crowds who are fol-
lowing Him and who have no food. He always has a word of consola-
tion, encouragement and forgiveness: He is never indifferent. However,
what hurts Him most are sinners who go through life without experien-
cing light and truth: He waits for them in the Sacraments of Baptism
and Penance.
33-38. As in the case of the first multiplication (14:13-20), the Apostles
provide our Lord with the loaves and the fish. It was all they had. He
also avails of the Apostles to distribute the food—the result of the mira-
cle—to the people. In distributing the graces of salvation God chooses
to rely on the faithfulness and generosity of men. “Many great things
depend—don’t forget—on whether you and I live our lives as God wants”
([St] J. Escriva, “The Way”, 755).
It is interesting to note that in both miracles of multiplication of loaves
and fish Jesus provides food in abundance but does not allow anything
to go to waste. All Jesus’ miracles, in addition to being concrete his-
torical events, are also symbols of supernatural realities. Here abun-
dance of material food also signifies abundance of divine gifts on the
level of grace and glory: it refers to spiritual resources and eternal re-
wards; God gives people more graces than are strictly necessary.
This is borne out by Christian experience throughout history. St.
Paul tells us that “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”
(Romans 5:20); he speaks of “the riches of His grace which He la-
vished upon us” (Ephesians 1:8) and tells his disciple Timothy that
“the grace of our Lord overflowed for me and with the faith and love
that are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:14).
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”.
Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate.
Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University
of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin,
Ireland.
Reprinted with permission from from Four Courts Press and Scepter
Publishers, the U.S. publishers.
29. And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh to the sea of Galilee; and went up into a mountain, and sat down there.
30. And great multitudes came to him, having with them those that were lame, blind, dumb, maimed, and many others, and cast them down at Jesus' feet; and he healed them:
31. Insomuch that the multitude wondered, when they saw the dumb to speak, the maimed to be whole, the lame to walk, and the blind to see: and they glorified the God of Israel.
JEROME; Having healed the daughter of this Chananean, the Lord returns into Judaea, as it follows, And Jesus departed from thence, and came nigh to the sea of Galilee.
REMIG; This sea is called by various names; the sea of Galilee, because of its neighborhood to Galilee; the sea of Tiberias, from the town of Tiberias. And going up into a mountain, he sat down there.
CHRYS; It should be considered that sometimes the Lord goes about to heal the sick, sometimes He sits and waits for them to come; and accordingly here it is added, And there came great multitudes to him, having with them those that were dumb, lame, blind, maimed, and many others.
JEROME; What the Latin translator calls 'debiles' (maimed), is in the Greek which is not a general term for a maimed person, but a peculiar species, as he that is lame in one foot is called ' claudus,' so he that is crippled in one hand is called.
CHRYS; These showed their faith in two points especially, in that they went up the mountain, and in that they believed that they had need of nothing beyond but to cast themselves at Jesus' feet; for they do not now touch the hem even of His garment, but have attained to a loftier faith; And cast them down at Jesus' feet. The woman's daughter He healed with great slackness, that he might show her virtue; but to these He administers healing immediately, not because they were better than that woman, but that He might stop the mouths of the unbelieving Jews; as it follows, and he healed them all.
But the multitude of those that were healed, and the ease with which it was done, struck them with astonishment. Insomuch that the multitude wondered when they saw the dumb to speak.
JEROME; He said nothing concerning the maimed, because there was no one word which was the opposite of this.
RABAN; Mystically; having in the daughter of this Chananean prefigured the salvation of the Gentiles, He came into Judaea; because, when the fullness of the Gentiles I shall have entered in, then shall all Israel be saved.
GLOSS; The sea near to which Jesus came signifies the turbid swellings of this world; it is the sea of Galilee when men pass from virtue to vice.
JEROME; He goes up into the mountain, that as a bird He may entice the tender nestlings to fly.
RABAN; Thus raising his hearers to meditate on heavenly things. He sat down there to show that rest is not to be sought but in heavenly things. And as He sits on the mountain, that is, in the heavenly height, there come to Him multitudes of the faithful, drawing near to Him with devoted mind, and bringing to Him the dumb, and the blind, &c. and cast them down at Jesus' feet; because they that confess their sins are brought to be healed by Him alone. These He so heals, that the multitudes marvel and magnify the God of Israel; because the faithful when they see those that have been spiritually sick richly endued with all manner of works of virtuousness, sing praise to God.
GLOSS; The dumb are they that do not praise God; the blind, they who do not understand the paths of life; the deaf, they that obey not; the lame, they that walk not firmly through the difficult ways of good works; the maimed, they that are crippled in their good works.
32. Then Jesus called his disciples to him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.
33. And his disciples say to him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness, as to fill so great a multitude?
34. And Jesus said to them, How many loaves have you? And they said, Seven, and a few little fishes.
35. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
36. And he took the seven loaves and the fishes, and gave thanks, and broke them, and gave to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.
37. And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full.
38. And they that did eat were four thousand men, beside women and children.
JEROME; Christ first took away the infirmities of the sick, and afterwards supplied food to them that had been healed. Also He calls His disciples to tell them what He is about to do; Then Jesus called his disciples to him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude. This He does that He may give an example to masters of sharing their counsels with the young, and their disciples; or, that by this dialogue they might come to understand the greatness of the miracle.
CHRYS; For the multitude when they came to be healed, had not dared to ask for food, but He that loves man, and has care of all creatures, gives it to them unasked; whence He says, I have compassion upon the multitude. That it should not be said that they had brought provision with them on their way, He says, Because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. For though when they came they had food, it was now consumed, and for this reason He did it not on the first or second day, but on the third, when all was consumed that they might have brought with them; and thus they having been first placed in deed, might take the food that was now provided with keener appetite.
That they had come from far, and that nothing was now left them, is shown in what He says, And I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint by the way.
Yet He does not immediately proceed to work the miracle, that He may rouse the disciples' attention by this questioning, and that they may show their faith by saying to Him, Create loaves. And though at the time of the former miracle Christ had done many things to the end that they should remember it, making them distribute the loaves, and divide the baskets among them, yet they were still imperfectly disposed, as appears from what follows; And his disciples say to him, Whence should we have so much bread in the wilderness as to fill so great a multitude? This they spoke out of the infirmity of their thoughts, yet thereby making the ensuing miracle to be beyond suspicion; for that none might suspect that the loaves had been got from a neighboring village, this miracle is wrought in the wilderness far distant from villages.
Then to arouse His disciples' thoughts, He puts a question to them, which may call the foregone miracle to their minds; And Jesus said to them, How many loaves have you? They said to him, seven, and a few little fishes. But they do not add, 'But what are they among so many?' as they had said before; for they had advanced somewhat, though they did not yet comprehend the whole. Admire in the Apostles their love of truth, though themselves are the writers, they do not conceal their own great faults; and it is no light self-accusation to have so soon forgotten so great a miracle. Observe also their wisdom in another respect, how they had overcome their appetite, taking so little care of their meals, that though they had been three days in the desert, yet they had with them only seven loaves. Some other things also He does like to what had been done before.
He makes them to sit down on the ground, and the bread to grow in the hands of the disciples; as it follows, And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground.
JEROME; As we have spoken of this above, it would be tedious to repeat what has been already said; we shall therefore only dwell on those particulars in which this differs from the former.
CHRYS; The end of the two miracles is different; And they took up of the broken meat that was left seven baskets full. Now they that had eaten were four thousand men, besides children and women. Whence are the fragments fewer in this miracle than in the former, although they that ate were not so many? It is either that the basket in this miracle is of larger capacity than the basket in the former, or that by this point of difference they might remember the two separate miracles; for which reason also He then made the number of baskets equal to the number of the disciples, but now to the number of the loaves.
REMIG; In this Gospel section we must consider in Christ the work of His humanity, and of His divinity. In that He has compassion on the multitudes, He shows that He has feeling of human frailty; in the multiplication of the loaves, and the feeding the multitudes, is shown the working of His divinity. So here is overthrown the error of Eutyches, who said, that in Christ was one nature only.
AUG; Surely it will not be out of place to suggest upon this miracle, that if any of the Evangelists who had not given the miracle of the five loaves had related this of the seven loaves, he would have been supposed to have contradicted the rest. But because those who have related the one, have also related the other, no one is puzzled, but it is understood at once that they were two separate miracles. This we have said, that wherever any thing is found done by the Lord, wherein the accounts of any two Evangelists seem irreconcilable, we may understand them as two distinct occurrences, of which one is related by one Evangelist, and one by another.
GLOSS; It should be noted, that the Lord first removes their sicknesses, and after that feeds them; because sin must be first wiped away, and then the soul fed with the words of God.
HILARY; As that first multitude which He fed answers to the people among the Jews that believed; so this is compared to the people of the Gentiles, the number of four thousand denoting an innumerable number of people out of the four quarters of the earth.
JEROME; For these are not five, but four thousand ; the number four being one always used in a good sense, and a four-sided stone is firm and rocks not, for which reason the Gospels also have been sacredly bestowed in this number. Also in the former miracle, because the people were neighbors to the five senses, it is the disciples, and not the Lord, that calls to mind their condition; but here the Lord Himself says, that He has compassion upon them, because they continue now three days with Him, that is, they believed on the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
HILARY; Or, they spend the whole time of the Lord's passion with the Lord; either because when they should come to baptism, they would confess that they believed in His passion and resurrection; or, because through the whole time of the Lord's passion they are joined to the Lord by fasting in a kind of union of suffering with Him.
RABAN; Or, this is said because in all time there have only been three periods when grace was given; the first, before the Law; the second, under the Law; the third, under grace; the fourth, is in heaven, to which as we journey we are refreshed by the way.
REMIG; Or, because correcting by penitence the sins that they have committed, in thought, word, and deed, they turn to the Lord. These multitudes the Lord would not send away fasting, that they should not faint by the way; because sinners turning in penitence, perish in their passage through the world, if they are sent away without the nourishment of sacred teaching.
GLOSS; The seven loaves are the Scripture of the New Testament, in which the grace of the Holy Spirit is revealed and given. And these are not as those former loaves, barley, because it is not with these, as in the Law, where the nutritious substance is wrapped rapped in types, as in a very adhesive husk; here are not two fishes, as under the Law two only were anointed, the King, and the Priest, but a few, that is, the saints of the New Testament, who, snatched from the waves of the world, sustain this tossing sea, and by their example refresh us lest we faint by the way.
HILARY; The multitudes sit down on the ground; for before they ha not reposed on the works of the Law, but they had supported themselves on their own sins, as men standing on their feet.
GLOSS; Or, they sit down there on the grass, that the desires of the flesh may be controlled, here on the ground, because the earth itself is commanded to be left. Or, the mountain in which the Lord refreshes them is the height of Christ; there, therefore, is grass upon the ground, because there the height of Christ is covered with carnal hopes and desires, on account of the carnal; here, where all carnal lust is banished, the guests are solidly placed on the basis of an abiding hope; there, are five thousand, who are the carnal subjected to the five senses; here, four thousand, on account of the four virtues, by which they are spiritually fortified, temperance, prudence, fortitude, and justice; of which the first is the knowledge of things to be sought and avoided; the second, the restraining of desire from those things that give pleasure in the world; the third, strength against the pains of life; the fourth, which is spread over all the love of God and our neighbor.
Both there and here women and children are excepted, because in the Old and New Testament, none are admitted to the Lord who do not endure to the perfect man, whether through the infirmity of their strength, or the levity of their tempers. Both refreshings were performed upon a mountain, because the Scriptures of both Testaments commend the loftiness of the heavenly commands and rewards, and both preach the height of Christ. The higher mysteries which the multitudes cannot receive the Apostles discharge, and fill seven baskets, to wit, the hearts of the perfect which are enlightened to understand by the grace of the seven-fold Spirit. Baskets are usually woven of rushes, or palm leaves; these signify the saints, who fix the root of their hearts in the very fount of life, as a bulrush in the water, that they may not wither away, and retain in their hearts the palm of their eternal reward.
Catena Aurea Matthew 15
Jesse Tree ~ Noah
Saint Sabbas the Sanctified was born in the fifth century in Cappadocia, in the pious Christian family of John and Sophia. His father was a military commander. Journeying to Alexandria on military matters, his wife went with him, but they left their five-year-old son in the care of an uncle. When the boy reached eight years of age, he entered the monastery of St. Flavian, located nearby. The gifted child quickly learned to read and became an expert on the Holy Scriptures. In vain did his parents urge St. Sabbas to return to the world and enter into marriage. At seventeen years of age he received monastic tonsure, and attained such perfection in fasting and prayer that he was given the gift of wonderworking. After spending ten years at the monastery of St. Flavian, he went to other monasteries. St. Sabbas lived in obedience at this monastery until the age of thirty. 
