Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception (B – White)
ANTIPHON (Cf. Isaiah 61:10)
I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul; for he has clothed me with a robe of salvation, and wrapped me in a mantle of justice, like a bride adorned with her jewels.
INTRODUCTION:
In the midst of our Advent preparation for the birth of Jesus, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, principal patroness of the Philippines. We contemplate on Mary, the woman God has chosen to be the mother of the Savior. Our Lady’s feast reminds us that God keeps his promise of overcoming evil. He sends us the Savior who redeems his people from their sins. In anticipation of this redemption, Mary is conceived free from the stain of sin so that she will be a worthy mother of the Savior.
As Mary lived up to her Immaculate Conception, listening to the word of God and keeping it, so we are challenged to continue living up to that privilege given to her for our sake.
FIRST READING (Genesis 3:9-15, 20)
By succumbing to the temptation of the serpent, Adam and Eve brought their descendants out of God’s grace. Still, the Lord does not abandon humankind: a new Eve will bring forth an offspring who will overcome evil.
AFTER THE MAN, Adam, had eaten of the tree, the LORD God called to the man and asked him, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden; but I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”
Then he asked, “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten, then, from the tree Of which I had forbidden you to eat!” The man replied, “The woman whom you put here with me – she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it.” The LORD God then asked the woman, “Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, “The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.”
Then the LORD God said to the serpent: “Because you have done this, you shall be banned from all the animals and from all the wild creatures; on your belly shall you crawl, and dirt shall you eat all the days of your life. 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.”
The man called his wife Eve, because she became the mother of all the living.
RESPONSORIAL PSALM (Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4; Response: 1)
R – Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
1 . Sing to the LORD a new song,
for he has done wondrous deeds;
his right hand has won victory for him,
his holy arm. (R)
2. The LORD has made his salvation known:
in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.
He has remembered his kindness and his faithfulness
toward the house of Israel. (R)
3. All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;1
break into song; sing praise. (R)
SECOND READING (1 Corinthians 1:3-9)
Paul speaks of how God chose his holy ones in Christ before the foundation of the world. The apostle pictures for us how God prepared Mary for her role as mother of the Savior:
BROTHERS AND SISTERS:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavens, as he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him.
In love he destined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ, in accord with the favor of his will, for the praise of the glory of his grace that he granted us in the beloved.
In him we were also chosen, destined in accord with the purpose of the One who accomplishes all things according to the intention of his will, so that we might exist for the praise of his glory, we who first hoped in Christ.
ALLELUIA (cf Luke 1:28)
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.
R. Alleluia, alleluia.
GOSPEL: (Luke 1:26-38)
THE ANGEL Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the Virgin’s name was Mary. And coming to her, he said, “Hail, full of grace! The Lord is with you.”
But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his Kingdom there will be no end.”
But Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?”
And the angel said to her in reply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren; for nothing will be impossible for God.”
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
REFLECTION:
Whenever we do something, we do it for a purpose, whether that purpose is expressed or not, conscious or not. How much more does God! He does not act without purpose, especially in the important actions of creation and redemption. What is his purpose? St. Paul writes: ”He chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him” (Eph 1:4). Holiness is the reason of our being. This is already expressed in the Old Testament. God told Moses: Speak to the whole Israelite community and tell them: Be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy” (Lv 19:2). Even if we have deviated from this intention by our sin (the First Reading speaks of the Fall of Adam and Eve), still the purpose of God would not be frustrated. He is all-powerful. Our sin just gives God the opportunity to show more clearly his plan and to bring this plan about. Already at the very beginning, when our first parents sinned, God already proclaimed the first Good News, predicting that there would be a struggle between the seed of the woman and the seed of the tempter, with the seed of the woman crushing the head of the tempter’s offspring.
Mary, the new Eve, the mother of humankind’s new beginning, exemplifies this by her full cooperation to the plan of God. The first Eve did not listen to the voice of the Creator, preferring instead the voice of a mere creature. She even must have suspected that God the Creator had an ulterior motive in commanding them not to eat of the forbidden fruit – that he wanted no rivals. Mary, on the other hand, in her simplicity and humility, accepted fully the proposal of God through the angel even though she did not fully grasp its meaning. She believed that God’s plan could be trusted, so she completely obeyed: ”May it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38).
It is because of Mary’s cooperation that the Incarnation rolled in. The Word became flesh in her. The work of redemption came to completion with the complete offering of Jesus, the Son of God made man, the New Adam, to the plan of the Father.
The person who has benefited the most from this work of salvation was no other than Mary herself. It prevented sin from even touching her soul and her body! This is expressed in our feast today-the Immaculate Conception. From the very first moment of her being, Mary was preserved from sin in view of her singular role in the life of the Son of God made man and because of the salvation achieved by her Son. Truly with the coming of Jesus, grace came upon grace. ”From his fullness we have all received, grace in place of grace, because while the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (Jn 1:16-17).
Let us trust the plan of God. He wants to bring us to holiness, to fullness. Mary is our exemplar, the one who is full of grace from the very first moment of her existence. And she kept it to the end of her life!
COMMUNION ANTIPHON
Glorious things are spoken of you, O Mary, for from you arose the sun of justice, Christ our God.
AN ACT OF CONSECRATION AND PETITION FOR THE FAITHFUL PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
O Most Blessed Virgin Mary, you who were preserved from the stain of original sin, most loving and powerful Patron of the Philippines, to you also be endless praise, everlasting veneration, and thanksgiving in Christ Jesus. O Immaculate Mother, our most kind Mother, our most sweet and august Queen, with grateful hearts we praise your mercies and fly to your protection. O Blessed Lady, you who captivate the hearts of men, you who captivate our hearts; you have captivated the hearts of our people also. You have established, fostered, and strengthened the foundations of the faith in our beloved land by your good patronage as manifested in so many visible proofs of your maternal love. 0 Lady, you are our Mother, who crushed the head of the serpent, deliver our people from the poisoned arrows of evil men and heretics. You, who nourished and educated our people in the faith of your most Beloved Son, be also our guardian, our defender, and our safeguard. We are yours; we wish to be yours, show yourself a Mother and Patron to us, guard us and save us through your most powerful intercession. Amen.
The Mass Readings are taken from www.usccb.org and Reflections by Most Rev. Broderick S. Pabillo, DD (Auxiliary Bishop of Manila) is taken from the December 8, 2017 edition of Sambuhay Missalette, printed in the Philippines by St. Paul’s Media Pastoral Ministry. The views and opinions in this post are those of the authors and does not necessarily reflect those of the blog site.
The Catholic Gospel Digest 