It is so easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the pre-Christmas season. Decorating, shopping, and spreading good cheer, while all good and important aspects of preparation during these increasingly colder winter days, distract from other important holy days occurring this week.
This past Sunday, the 2nd Sunday of Advent, was also the feast of St. Nicholas. St. Nicholas (270-346) was Bishop of Myra (modern day Turkey) and his reputation for gift giving became the model for Santa Claus. St. Nicholas Day is celebrate with various customs around the world, the most well known is that of the Netherlands and Germany, where children leave out their shoes on the eve of St. Nicholas and the next day find the shoes filled with sweets and small gifts.
Today, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a Holy Day of Obligation. On this day, we honor Mary and that she was conceived without the stain of original sin in order to bear Christ into the world.
During her apparitions to Bernadette Soubirous at Lourdes, Mary said “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Four years before this, on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX had confirmed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception with the bull Ineffabilis Deus.
Mary is recognized as the collaborator of Christ in the Redemption of mankind, as the Mother of the Redeemer. As such, she could not have been stained with original sin, as was “full of Grace” from the moment of her conception. She is, of course, fully human and not divine, but is the way in which God came to earth as man.
In today’s gospel, we hear of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and said she would conceive the Son of God. “…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…” (Luke 1:26-38)
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation, a feast day on which Catholics are required to participate in Mass even though it is not a Sunday. The next Holy Day of Obligation is Christmas followed by Mary, Mother of God on January 1, 2010.
Today, let us pray for the intercession of Mary, the Immaculate Conception.
O holy Mary, Mother of God, Queen of heaven and earth, I humbly beseech you from the bottom of my heart, to aid me in my need; there are none that can withstand your power. O show me herein you are my Mother. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. Sweet Mother, I place this cause in your hands. Amen.
