Holy Day of Obligation 

＊＊＊ 1st Reading ＊＊＊ 

Genesis 3:9-15, 20

 Yahweh God called the man saying to him,

“Where are you?” He said, “I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree I ordered you not to eat?” The man answered, “The woman you put with me gave me fruit from the tree and I ate it.” 

God said to the woman, “What have you done?” The woman said,     “The serpent deceived me and I ate.”

 Yahweh God said to the serpent, “Since you have done that, be cursed among all the cattle and wild beasts! You will crawl on your belly and eat dust all the days of your life. I will make you enemies, you and the woman, your offspring and her offspring. He will crush your head and you will strike his heel.”

 The man called his wife by the name of Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.

 

Ps. 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4

Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.

 

＊＊＊ 2nd Reading ＊＊＊

Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12*

 Blessed be God, the Father of Christ Jesus our Lord,

who in Christ has blessed us from heaven with every spiritual blessing.

 God chose us in Christ before the creation of the world

to be holy and without sin in his presence. (……..)

 

＊＊＊＊ Gospel ＊＊＊＊   

Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth. He was sent   to a young virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the family of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.

 The angel came to her and said, “Rejoice, full of grace, the Lord is with you.”   Mary was troubled at these words, wondering what this greeting could mean.

 But the angel said, “Do not fear, Mary, for God has looked kindly on you.   You shall conceive and bear a son and you shall call him Jesus.  He will be great and shall rightly be called Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the kingdom of David, his ancestor; he will rule over the people of Jacob for­­ever   and his reign shall have no end.”

 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be if I am a virgin?”   And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the holy child to be born shall be called Son of God.   

Even your relative Elizabeth is expecting a son in her old age, although she was unable to have a child, and she is now in her sixth month. With God nothing is impossible.”

  Then Mary said, “I am the hand­maid of the Lord, let it be done to me as you have said.” And the angel left her.

 

   Gospel Reflection：

Today we celebrate the feast of the immaculate Conception. This lis Deus. This is an important article of our faith. It teaches that Mary, conceived by her parents in the old fashioned way is without the stain of corruption original sin.

This teaching, although seen by some as an innovation by Catholic standards, as it’s only been on the books since the 1850s is firmly rooted in scripture, if only symbolically (the ark of the covenant was made of incorruptible wood, and even those who carried it were thought to be”sanctified”) .

Since she will be the Mother of God In the future after her birth, she is prepared by God as a worthy receptacle of the Son. And this is not through her merit but because of the Son she will bear in the future. Hence, any Marian doctrine of title will always refer to the Son and not to the Mother.