FEAST OF IMMACULATE CONCEPTION HOLY DAY OF OBLIGATION DECEMBER 8
Immaculate Mary, Your praises we sing,
You reign now in heaven, With Jesus our king
Ave, Ave, Ave Maria.
BACKGROUND
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in its oldest form, goes back to the seventh century, when churches in the East began celebrating the Feast of Saint Anne, the mother of Mary.
The feast arrived in the West probably no earlier than the 11th century with a developing theological controversy between the West and East. In the East they believe every human being is born with original sin including Mary mother of God.
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception was officially defined as dogma by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Dogma means that a definitive article of faith has been solemnly promulgated and is necessary for the belief of all Catholic faithful.
Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854 promulgated,
“We declare, the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”
Four years after the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated Mary appeared to a young woman in Lourdes, France 1858, Bernadette Soubirous, and announced that she is the Immaculate Conception”
I AM THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION
LOURDES 1858
COMMENTARY
According to St. Thomas Aquinas, God had sanctified Mary at the moment of her conception in His foreknowledge that the Blessed Virgin would consent to bear Christ.
In other words, she too had been redeemed—her redemption had simply been accomplished at the moment of her conception in anticipation of her Redeemer rather than as with all other Christians, in Baptism.
Mary’s soul was created in a state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice. neither stained by Original Sin, nor by consequences of that sin…clouded intellect and weakened will.
It’s important to understand what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is and what it is not. Some people think the term refers to Christ’s conception in Mary’s womb without the intervention of a human father; but that is called the Virgin Birth.
Others think the Immaculate Conception means Mary was conceived “by the power of the Holy Spirit,” in the way Jesus was, but that, too, is incorrect. Mary did have a human father. The Immaculate Conception means that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin.
At the Annunciation, The angel Gabriel greets Mary, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” This greeting “full of grace was not a result of the angel’s visit but rather, an acknowledgement that Mary, preserved from original sin, is already sanctified.
REFLECTION
The Immaculate Conception is the concrete expression of God’s love for Mary, who gave herself fully, completely, and without hesitation to His service.
Mary is exactly the human being that God meant each of us to be from the very beginning of creation. It was man’s fall that brought about sin and death.
God isn’t finished with us yet, thanks be to God. He remains patient and merciful as He calls each one of us to be the person He had in mind when He created us in our mother’s womb.
MARY IMMACULATE
PATRONESS OF UNITED STATES
John Carroll, the first bishop in the United States, had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1792, he placed the diocese of Baltimore which encompassed the thirteen colonies of the young republic under her protection. U.S. bishops unanimously named Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, patroness of the nation in 1846, during the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore.