Today we celebrate the feast of the immaculate Conception.

It is one of the most important Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church celebrated worldwide.

 

In the fullness of time, the Savior would be born of The Woman whom the Archangel Gabriel will great “Ave Maria!”

She, the sinless one, the IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, would be the “cause of our joy”

 

＊＊＊ 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 l 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 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, since 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 of you 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 ：

"Reliance on God's grace will help us conform our lives to his will."

In these early days of Advent, we observe the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This often-misunderstood feast celebrates that Mary, through the grace of God, was conceived without the original sin that our first parents brought into the world through their disobedience.

 

God prepared Mary to be the mother of his Son by blessing her and filling her with his grace from the very moment of her conception. Because she was free from original sin Mary was able to conform her life perfectly to God's will, giving him her fiat, her yes, to his invitation to bring his Son to birth. 

 

But what does this feast mean for us? Mary is an example for us. Though we must still battle the effects of original sin, Mary reminds us that reliance on God's grace will help us conform our lives to his will and say yes to whatever God asks of us. If we do so, we will join Mary and all the saints in heaven forever.