December 8: HOMILY FOR THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY (SOLEMNITY) AV reflection summary and text.
Dear friends: Happy Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary!
As we have said in the previous post immediately after the Fall of our first parents, out of His Love for us, God the Father already promised the coming of Our Savior through the Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. Gen 3:15). He planned right from the start to save humanity by choosing a virgin from a little town in Israel, through whom will be born His Only Begotten Son.
“Almighty God, Omnipotent and Infinitely Wise, had to choose his Mother. What would you have done, if you had had to choose yours? I think that you and I would have chosen the mother we have, filling her with all graces. That is what God did: and that is why, after the Blessed Trinity, comes Mary.
Theologians have given a rational explanation for her fullness of grace and why she cannot be subject to the devil: IT WAS FITTING THAT IT SHOULD BE SO, GOD COULD DO IT, THEREFORE HE DID IT. That is the great proof: the clearest proof that God endowed his Mother with every privilege, from the very first moment. That is how she is: beautiful, and pure, and spotless in soul and body! (St. Josemaria, The Forge, 482).”
Through a special privilege which only God can bestow –BECAUSE HE COULD AND HE WANTED TO AND THEREFORE HE DID IT– the Virgin shall be conceived without original sin, thereby, making her worthy to bear the Only-Begotten Son of God.
In the room of St. Josemaria in the Central Office of Opus Dei in Rome, there is an inscription on a ceramic plaque above the door which says: “Aparta de mí, Señor, lo que me aparte de Tí (Separate from me, Oh Lord, that which separates me from you).”
At the same time and in the same manner by which God the Father created Mary, freeing her from every stain of sin, we, too, as we prepare for Christmas, can and must begin again in our struggle to fight against anything that would separate us from our lord, offering it as a gift to the Child Jesus. Let us say “Yes” to God and “No” to sin as a concrete and palpable manifestation of our love for God. This is the daily struggle of a Christian who wants to be faithful to Christ, who lives for Christ, who loves Christ.
Immaculate Mother, we, your children, are still in the midst of our daily struggle to grow in our love and intimacy with the Most Blessed Trinity.
Help us so that we would do what we wish to do to make God happy and give Him glory in every action of ours.
Help us so that we may say “Yes” to God in each occasion, overcoming the obstacles and difficulties, especially the perverse suggestions of the old man within us and of the serpent.
As we prepare for the celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ’s Birth and awaiting for His Second Coming, let us thank the Most Blessed Trinity for giving us Mary as our mother and let ask Our Lord:
“O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin prepared a worthy dwelling for your Son, grant, we pray, that, as you preserved her from every stain by virtue of the death of your son, which you foresaw, so, through her intercession, we, too, may be cleansed and admitted to your presence.” -Opening prayer, Mass proper-
Mother of God, Mother Mary Immaculate, conceived without original sin, be with us always so that with your prayer and loving maternal help, we would grow more in love with the Most Blessed Trinity and love what God loves and reject what God rejects, and thus arrive at the glory of the Kingdom of your Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ!
– Fr. Rolly Arjonillo, Catholics striving for holiness with the help of God’s grace. Please do us the kind favor of liking our FB page so we could reach and help more people. Thanks!
AUDIO CREDIT AND SOURCE: “Ave Maria” (Morten Lauridsen) sung by the world famous, Philippine Madrigal Singers at Castelfranco, Emilia, Chiesa di San Giacomo on Sept. 10, 2012, video recorded video by Sergio Pigo, in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrUVQ…
Its choirmaster is Mark Anthony Carpio, a world-renowned choirmaster and personal friend as well. He gave me permission to use the track for this video. Thanks a lot, Mark! And more power to all of the Philippine Madrigal Singers!
PHOTO SOURCES: All mine except the Icon of Theotokos in www.iconbm.pl
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