Prepare the way for Mary Immaculate...
Prepare the way for Mary Immaculate...
Prepare the way with Mary Immaculate…
First, let me take the opportunity to wish you a Happy Feast of Immaculate Conception, especially to parishioners of Immaculate Conception. As we make our advent journey, let us ask our Immaculate Mother to intercede for us so we may follow her example while joyfully waiting for the birth of baby Jesus.
This year we celebrate the solemnity of Immaculate Conception on December 9 because December 8 falls on Sunday, Lord’s Day. We are familiar with the story of Bernadette Soubirous who received a vision. At 14, Mary appeared to her in a cave above the banks of the Gave River near the Lourdes. She was poor and young, so no one believed her. However, the vision continued. Finally, the local priest told Bernadette to inquire about the woman's name. She followed his directions and asked the woman, and she answered, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” Today, thousands of people go on pilgrimage to Lourdes and receive many blessings. In 2001, I had the privilege of being one of the pilgrims and praying in that beautiful, holy place.
The Immaculate Conception is a dogma originating from sound Christian tradition. Monks in Palestinian monasteries started celebrating the Conception of Our Lady feast by the end of the 7th century. The feast spread as the Feast of Immaculate Conception in Italy (9th century), England (11th century), and France (12th century). Pope Leo VI propagated the celebration, and Pope Sixtus IV approved it as a feast. Finally, in 1854, Pope Pius IX, in his Apostolic Constitution, “Ineffabilis Deus” means “God ineffable” and defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Mary approved it by declaring to Bernadette at Lourdes, “I am the Immaculate Conception.” In 1846, the US Bishops chose Our Lady in her Immaculate Conception as the Patroness of the United States. Even though Immaculate Conception falls on Monday, it is still a holy day obligation.
33 Days to Morning Glory: A Do-It-Yourself Retreat is 33 days of "spiritual reading and prayerful pondering." The book is broken down so that readers spend seven days each on the Marian consecration teachings of St. Louis de Montfort, St. Maximilian Kolbe, Blessed Mother Teresa, and Blessed John Paul II. Then, the final five days are for review before reciting the Prayer of Consecration. It is a beautiful spiritual reading that helps you grow in Marian spirituality. It does not stop at Mary; we fall in love with Jesus in a deeper way through Mary.
The first reading is from Genesis (3:9-15,20), for the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception narrates God's promise. Adam and Eve were in perfect communion with God. At the time of their fall, God made a promise, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel” (3:15). From the Gospel of Luke (1:26-38) we read about that woman. God sent the angel Gabriel to her and said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you" (1:28). Mary was full of grace; there was no place for the corruption of sin. Mary is the new Eve who gave birth to the new Adam, Jesus. These readings for the celebration of Immaculate Conception are extra beautiful, especially when we are in the Advent season.
The theme for the second Sunday of Advent is the New Exodus. In the first reading from the book of Baruch (5:1-9), the prophet says that the hand of God will bring them back to the Israelites from Babylonian exile. The prophet tells Jerusalem, “Put on the splendor of glory from God forever.” I was an encouragement for Jerusalem inspired by the second book of Isaiah. We read in the Book of Isaiah 52:1, “Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion; Put on your glorious garments, Jerusalem, holy city. Never again shall the uncircumcised or the unclean enter you.” Another aspect of this reading is to turn our focus on the new exodus. Baruch (5:7) quotes from Isaiah 40:3-5 which is in the Gospel of Luke for today (3:1-6). It is fulfilled in John the Baptist who came to prepare the way for the Lord. Baruch’s prophecy is about the mission of John the Baptist and the new exodus.
We know the old exodus story. God asked Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. They spent 40 years in the desert, crossed the Jordan River, and entered the Promised Land. Where do we see John the Baptist today in the Gospel? When the Word of God came to John, he was in the desert, and he proclaimed the baptism of repentance to the entire region of Jordan. The invitation for the new exodus begins by receiving the baptism of repentance in the river Jordan.
In the second reading, St. Paul gives a prayer for this Advent: “This is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception, to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.”
During Advent, we are busy shopping, decorating, wrapping gifts, and so on. In the middle of all of these, John the Baptist invites us to the desert by the Jordan River. In our case, it is an invitation to the sacrament of reconciliation, prayer, and joyful participation in the Eucharist to prepare our hearts to celebrate Christmas.