Tuesday, July 14, 2020 –
For the next ten days we are going to cover each of the Holy Days of Obligation. Today’s Holy Day throwdown is: December 8th: Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary!
Most people assume this day is about Christ’s conception. WRONG! It is about the Blessed Virgin Mary’s conception.
Umm…what!?
A lot of people get confused because the Gospel reading for this day is about the Annunciation: a whole other, very important conception with its own special feast day (though not a Holy Day of Obligation…weird), but it is not about the Immaculate Conception. Well, it **IS**, but you have to stop after the words of the angel Gabriel: “Ave, grátia plena, Dóminus tecum: Benedicta tu in muliéribus.” Or, if you prefer English: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women.” (Luke 1:28b)
In fact, the Gospel for the Traditional Latin Mass does stop after this exchange. The TLM Gospel is literally three verses. Do not quote me on this, but I think the TLM Gospel reading for the Immaculate Conception is probably be one the shortest Gospel readings of the year. It was not until the Novus Ordo that the rest of that Gospel passage was added, thus leading to Mass confusion.
So, what really is the Immaculate Conception? Well, let’s look to the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
The Immaculate Conception
490 To become the mother of the Savior, Mary “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role.” The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace”. In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.
491 Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:
The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.
492 The “splendor of an entirely unique holiness” by which Mary is “enriched from the first instant of her conception” comes wholly from Christ: she is “redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son”. The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and chose her “in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love”.
493 The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia), and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature”. By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.
Let’s break this down…
Mary, who had a human mother (Saint Anne) and a human father (Saint Joachim), was given special graces and preserved from sin from the moment of her conception—which was done in the…um…normal, non-angel-greeting, non-virginal method—in order to become the Mother of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Here’s where it gets a bit woo-woo-timey-wimey:
“[F]rom the first instant of her conception, she was totally preserved from the stain of original sin and she remained pure from all personal sin throughout her life.” (CCC 508) Her protection from original sin and personal sin was made possible “by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race.” (CCC 491)
#MindBlown
So, Mary does not have sin and did not sin, and this was brought about because of the saving power of Jesus Christ, who is born to Mary later in time, but God is outside time and space, so woo-woo-timey-wimey!
There you have it! Next time December 8th rolls around, you are well-equipped to answer the question, “what does today celebrate?” The Immaculate Conception of Mary!
Some other random facts about today:
- The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was promulgated on December 8, 1854 by Pope Pius IX in his apostolic constitution, Ineffabilis Deus.
- December 8th falls exactly nine months before the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8).
- The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is the Patronal feast day of the United States (and several other countries).
- The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is of course dedicated to the Immaculate Conception, is the second largest Church building in the world (St. Peter’s Basilica comes in #1, of course).
- If December 8th falls on a Sunday, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is transferred to the following Monday (GNLY, #5), but it gets a little squirrely if your obligation transfers. I’ve seen it both ways.
- If someone asks you about cerulean vestments, you should reply, “that’s a load of Papal bull!” (it is an 1864 Spanish history joke. Sorry).
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
