Opening Prayer
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help or sought thy intercession, was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins my Mother; to thee do I come,
before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful; O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
Who knows the meaning of the term "Immaculate Conception?"
CCC 490-491God sets people aside for special tasks, sometimes even before they are born.
To become the mother of the Savior, Mary "was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role." The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as "full of grace". In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God's grace.
Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
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, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
Jeremiah 1:4-5Mary's role is entirely unique—to be the Mother of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, whose coming is foretold as early the time of Creation.
The word of the LORD came to me: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.
Psalm 139:13-16
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know. My bones are not hidden from you, When I was being made in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me unformed; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.
Genesis 3:14-15From the time of the fall, God foretells the coming of the woman and her offspring who shall have enmity with Satan, the serpent, the great dragon.
Then the LORD God said to the snake: Because you have done this, cursed are you among all the animals, tame or wild; On your belly you shall crawl, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; They will strike at your head, while you strike at their heel.
Psalm 139:21-24That "ancient path" is the path of unfallen human nature, of holiness from the moment of conception.
Do I not hate, LORD, those who hate you? Those who rise against you, do I not loathe? With fierce hatred I hate them, enemies I count as my own. Probe me, God, know my heart; try me, know my thoughts. See if there is a wicked path in me; lead me along an ancient path.
CCC 492-493What does it mean for Mary—or anyone, anything—to be holy?
The "splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son". The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person "in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" and chose her "in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love".
The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God "the All-Holy" (Panagia), and celebrate her as "free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature". By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.
Deuteronomy 7:6Holiness means to be set apart or consecrated to God. We are called as Catholics to help be sources of holiness, to be set apart for God in the world and bring to him everything we have and are. Those things that are set apart for him become sanctified and made transparent to his presence, love, and power—to his grace. Saints become windows onto eternity, become gates of heaven and houses of God.
For you are a people holy to the LORD, your God; the LORD, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own.
1 Corinthians 6:19Mary is not just a temple of the Holy Spirit—she bears God incarnate within her womb. She gives him the human nature by which God becomes man. She in her humanity is a mystery. What occurs through her is the deepest of mysteries—the Incarnation of the Son of God, born of the Father before all ages, as a man.
Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
Why did God bless Mary with such a unique holiness?
- She is the doorway between time and eternity, between divinity and humanity, through whose body God becomes man. All grace passes through her, because God passes through her, the font of all grace.
- Jesus got to pick and prepare his parents. If you had the chance to have a most holy mother, wouldn't you take it?
- Look at what Scripture tells us about places where God dwells.
Exodus 3:1-6Moses was afraid in front of the angel of the Lord, the messenger which signified God's presence. Imagine, then, his reaction if he'd come face to face with the pregnant Mother of God! If the ground was made holy by the presence of the angel, what does that suggest was the level of Mary's holiness?
Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock beyond the wilderness, he came to the mountain of God, Horeb. There the angel of the LORD appeared to him as fire flaming out of a bush. When he looked, although the bush was on fire, it was not being consumed. So Moses decided, “I must turn aside to look at this remarkable sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to look, God called out to him from the bush: Moses! Moses! He answered, “Here I am.” God said: Do not come near! Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father, he continued, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
Exodus 19:10-13
The LORD said to Moses: Go to the people and have them sanctify themselves today and tomorrow. Have them wash their garments and be ready for the third day; for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. Set limits for the people all around, saying: Take care not to go up the mountain, or even to touch its edge. All who touch the mountain must be put to death. No hand shall touch them, but they must be stoned to death or killed with arrows. Whether human being or beast, they must not be allowed to live. Only when the ram’s horn sounds may they go up on the mountain.
Leviticus 16:1-2Aaron's sons died when they wrongly went into the tent of meeting where the Lord God was present over the Ark of the Covenant. The Holy of Holies where the Ark was kept was the place where God met Moses. Mary is also overshadowed by the Holy Spirit and bore within her God almighty.
After the death of Aaron’s two sons, who died when they encroached on the LORD’s presence, the LORD spoke to Moses and said to him: Tell your brother Aaron that he is not to come whenever he pleases into the inner sanctuary, inside the veil, in front of the cover on the ark, lest he die, for I reveal myself in a cloud above the ark’s cover.
Hebrews 9:1-7Mary bore within her the High Priest (Hebrews 7:17), the Bread from Heaven (John 6:51), and the Word of God (John 1:1, 14-18).
Now [even] the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was constructed, the outer one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place. Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies, in which were the gold altar of incense and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of expiation. Now is not the time to speak of these in detail. With these arrangements for worship, the priests, in performing their service, go into the outer tabernacle repeatedly, but the high priest alone goes into the inner one once a year, not without blood that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people.
Luke 1:35
And the angel said to her in reply, “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."
Revelations 11:19-12:2Mary was preserved free of all stain of original sin from the moment of her conception in preparation for being this awesome person in whose body God becomes man, to whom she would be mother. She was crafted by God for this task to which she would be called, just as the Ark of the Covenant was specially crafted according to God's instructions. (Exodus 25) Further, the Ark went before the people of Israel, leading them to victory.
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child and wailed aloud in pain as she labored to give birth.
Joshua 3:3-8And a miracle occurs. The water of the Jordan stands still, so that all can cross. As the Israelites followed the first Ark of the Covenant to know which way to go, so too must we follow Mary's example and her teaching to know which way to go.
“When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD, your God, which the levitical priests will carry, you must break camp and follow it, that you may know the way to take, for you have not gone over this road before. But let there be a space of two thousand cubits between you and the ark: do not come nearer to it.” Joshua also said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will perform wonders among you.” And he told the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross ahead of the people”; so they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. Then the LORD said to Joshua: Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. Now command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, there take your stand.”
John 2:1-11Mary teaches us to do whatever Jesus tells us. We also learn from this story that Mary's intercession is powerful. She will ask, and her son will answer. We can turn to her with confidence, asking for help in every part of life. She is our Mother, as well as Jesus's.
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding. When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” [And] Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for Jewish ceremonial washings, each holding twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told them, “Fill the jars with water.” So they filled them to the brim. Then he told them, “Draw some out now and take it to the headwaiter.” So they took it. And when the headwaiter tasted the water that had become wine, without knowing where it came from (although the servers who had drawn the water knew), the headwaiter called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, an inferior one; but you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this as the beginning of his signs in Cana in Galilee and so revealed his glory, and his disciples began to believe in him.
Revelation 12:17St. Catherine Laboure. Excerpts:
Then the dragon became angry with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep God’s commandments and bear witness to Jesus.
On the night of 18 July, 1830, a "child" awakened Sr. Catherine Labouré in her Daughters of Charity convent at 140 Rue du Bac, Paris, telling her to go to the convent's chapel where Mary awaited her. There Mary told her:Closing Prayer
"God wishes to charge you with a mission. You will be contradicted, but do not fear; you will have the grace. Tell your spiritual director all that passes within you. Times are evil in France and in the world. Come to the foot of the altar. Graces will be shed on all, great and little, especially upon those who seek them. Another community of sisters will join the Rue du Bac community. The community will become large; you will have the protection of God and Saint Vincent; I will always have my eyes upon you."
Later that year, on 27 November, Catherine saw another vision of Mary. She describes her like this:
"Her height was medium and her countenance, indescribably beautiful. She was dressed in a robe the color of the dawn, high-necked, with plain sleeves. Her head was covered with a white veil, which floated over Her shoulders down to her feet. Her feet rested upon a globe, or rather one half of a globe, for that was all that could be seen. Her hands which were on a level with her waist, held in an easy manner another globe, a figure of the world. Her eyes were raised to Heaven, and her countenance beamed with light as She offered the globe to Our Lord."
The vision changed to Mary, still standing on a globe, rays of light streaming from her fingers, enframed in an oval frame inscribed with the words, "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee." The whole vision "turned" showing the back of the oval inscribed with the letter "M" entwined with a Cross, and the hearts of Jesus and Mary, the former surrounded with thorns, the latter pierced with a sword. 12 stars circled this oval frame, symbolizing the 12 Tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles, and showing Mary as the Mother of Israel, per the Apocalypse (ch. 12). Mary told her to strike a medal in this form, and that all who wore it after having it blessed would receive graces.
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to you.
No comments:
Post a Comment