December 8th - The Immaculate Conception
Waldtraud
(Declared a dogma December 8, 1854 by Pius IX)
On this day, so dear to every Catholic heart, we celebrate first of all the
moment when Almighty God, in a vision telescoping the ages, showed Mary both
to
our first parents and to the demon, as the Virgin Mother of the future
divine
Redeemer, the Woman destined to crush the proud head of the serpent. This
episode is narrated in the first book of Scripture, Genesis chapter 3. We
find
Her again in the last canonical prophecy of the Bible, the Apocalypse or
Revelation of Saint John the Apostle, as the Woman clothed with the sun,
having
on Her head a crown of twelve stars. In this beautiful vision She is also
identified with the persecuted Apostolic Church, obliged to flee into the
"desert", and as the Mother of a great Head of that Church, destined to
govern
the flock of the latter times in the final combat, who like that flock is
Her
own Child. (chapter 12) Mary, like Her Son, is at the beginning and the end
of
all God's intentions, an integral part of His designs for the Redemption of
the
human race.
Since by eternal decree She was exempted from all stain of original sin from
the
first moment of Her Creation, and was endowed with the richest treasures of
grace and sanctity, it is fitting that we honor Her glorious prerogatives by
this special feast of the Immaculate Conception. We should join in spirit
with
the Blessed in heaven and rejoice with our dear Mother, not only for Her own
sake, but for ours, Her children, for we are partakers of Her glory and
happiness. "The treasures of the mother are the heritage of the children,"
said
Saint Th�r�se of the Child Jesus.
We celebrate at the same time the ever-memorable day, the 8th of December of
1854, which raised the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady from a
pious
belief to the dignity of a dogma of the infallible Church, causing a great
and
universal joy among the faithful. The Holy See had already permitted the
feast
day from the time of Sixtus IV, by his papal bull Cum Praecelsa (1477),
formally
allowing its celebration for all dioceses desiring it. In 1854, the ancient
faith of the people in their Mother exulted.
Reflection: Let us repeat frequently these words applied by the Church to
the
Blessed Virgin: "Thou art all fair, O Mary! and there is no stain in Thee"
(Cant. 4:7).
Sources: The Holy Bible: Old and New Testaments; Little Pictorial Lives of
the
Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other
sources,
by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
Saint Quote:
The Daughters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, like those who draw their
charity
from the very source of love, that is, from the Heart of Jesus Christ, must
burn
with the same love of the Divine Heart for their neighbor: purest charity
that
has no aim save for the glory of God and the good of souls; universal
charity
that excludes no one but embraces all; generous charity that does not draw
back
from suffering, is not alarmed by contradiction, but rather, in suffering
and
opposition, grows in vigor and conquers through patience.
-Saint Teresa Eustochio Verzeri
<><><><>
Antiphon, Versicle and Prayer in honor of Immaculate Mary:
Ant. This is the rod in which was neither knot of original sin, nor rind of
actual guilt.
V. In thy conception, O Virgin! thou wast immaculate,
R. Pray for us to the Father, whose Son thou didst bring forth.
Let us pray:
O God, Who, by the immaculate conception of the Virgin, didst prepare a
worthy habitation for Thy Son; we beseech Thee that, as in view of the
death of that Son, Thou didst preserve her from all stain of sin, so thou
wouldst enable us, being made pure be her intercession, to come unto
Thee. Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.
Pope Pius IX, on March 31, 1876, granted to the faithful for devout
recitation of the preceding, a traditional indulgence of 100 days.
Imprimatur: + John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, Sept 19, 1908.