{"id":941,"date":"2015-12-08T09:47:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-08T07:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/?p=941"},"modified":"2021-12-08T10:41:01","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T15:41:01","slug":"solemnity-of-the-immaculate-conception","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/2015\/12\/08\/solemnity-of-the-immaculate-conception\/","title":{"rendered":"Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception"},"content":{"rendered":"

The First Reading recalls\u00a0God\u2019s first encounter with Adam and Eve after they\u2019d fallen.\u00a0Addressing the serpent, God warned that there would be enmity between the woman and the serpent, and between her offspring and the serpent\u2019s offspring. It was a reminder of the battle that followed after the Fall. However,\u00a0it was not just a dire prediction: it is\u00a0also a promise of future salvation, which is why this passage is often called the proto-Gospel.\u00a0Christians through baptism, prayer, the sacraments, and a morally good life pass from the serpent\u2019s side of the battle to the side of the woman\u2019s offspring: we pass to Jesus and Mary\u2019s side, we become Mary\u2019s children. Mary by a special grace remained on the good side from the beginning, through a special grace that was won by her son\u2019s death. The First Reading reminds us that we must\u00a0take sides as well in the great battle between good and evil in the world: we must take\u00a0Jesus and Mary\u2019s side. The battle is lifelong and never easy, but God has special graces in store for everyone who keeps fighting it. The battle has already been won by Christ\u2019s sacrifice on the Cross and Resurrection.<\/p>\n

The Second Reading is a\u00a0dense but rich recap of God\u2019s dream for every human being: before the foundation of the world God had chosen us to be holy and without blemish before him, and out of love he destined us to become his children through his son. He wants to rain his favor down on us through our living a holy and unblemished life, because he knows that it will bring us the truest and fullest happiness.\u00a0Mary reflects that in her whole life. Mary received that special grace of being preserved from the stain of original sin, her Immaculate Conception, and she made that grace bear fruit by never sinning her whole life, which is why she of all the creatures created by God is his greatest \u201csuccess story.\u201d\u00a0It is a hope that God has had for each of us before the foundation of the world, even before the Fall: simply that we love him, not just as creatures, but as his children. He puts all the means at our disposal to do it.\u00a0Hope is the key: this gift he\u2019s given us will only fully be revealed in Heaven. We live for quick results in society today, but we also know that when we work and struggle for something more lasting it is that much more satisfying. Our life is one big adventure of this, with God helping us.<\/p>\n

In today’s Gospel\u00a0the angel Gabriel comes\u00a0to Mary and tells\u00a0her God wants\u00a0her to be the mother of the Messiah, Israel\u2019s long-awaited savior, and also the mother of God himself.\u00a0In response to this invitation, Mary gave what would always be known as her fiat<\/em> (Latin for \u201cMay it be done\u201d: see Luke 1:38). Mary was faithful to that fiat<\/em> her whole life: when Joseph considered leaving her, when she had to give birth in a stable in Bethlehem, when they fled to Egypt, when Jesus was lost in Jerusalem, when she lived with him for thirty years in Nazareth before he began his public ministry, and when he asked her to be the mother of the whole Church from his cross.\u00a0If the Second Reading reminded us of God\u2019s dream, the Gospel reminded us of what our dream should be in response: that we be faithful to God\u2019s plan for our lives from start to finish.<\/p>\n

As we celebrate today Mary’s\u00a0fiat<\/em>\u00a0as crowning her fidelity to a grace received upon her conception in her mother’s womb, let’s also ask Our Lord, through her intercession, to make our whole lives one continuous fiat<\/i> as well.<\/p>\n

Readings:\u00a0Genesis 3:9\u201315, 20;\u00a0Psalm 98:1\u20134;\u00a0Ephesians 1:3\u20136, 11\u201312;\u00a0Luke 1:26\u201338.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"BVM\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The First Reading recalls\u00a0God\u2019s first encounter with Adam and Eve after they\u2019d fallen.\u00a0Addressing the serpent, God warned that there would be enmity between the woman and the serpent, and between her offspring and the serpent\u2019s offspring. It was a reminder of the battle that followed after the Fall. However,\u00a0it was not just a dire prediction: … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-immaculate-conception"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p65qtw-fb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2999,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941\/revisions\/2999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fathernikola.org\/liturgy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}