3rd December 2017 - Reflecting on the Immaculate Conception of Mary

On this weeks programme John is joined by Fr John Mockler for a reflection on the up coming celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We have our regular reflection on the Sunday gospel and other liturgical odds and ends.

You can listen to the podcast of this weeks full programme HERE.

First Sunday of Advent

Advent Poem

O Lord,

let Advent begin again

in us,

not merely in commercials;

for that first Christmas was not

simply for children,

but for the

wise and the strong.

It was

crowded around that cradle,

with kings kneeling.

Speak to us

who seek an adult seat this year.

Help us to realize,

as we fill stockings,

Christmas is mainly

for the old folks —

bent backs

and tired eyes

need relief and light

a little more.

No wonder

it was grown-ups

who were the first

to notice

such a star.

~ written by David A. Redding, 

in If I Could Pray Again (1965). Posted on Journey with Jesus.

Reflecting on the Solemnity of Immaculate Conception of Blessed Virgin Mary

Hail Mary, full of grace: the Lord is with you. You are the most blessed of all women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Alleluia.

December 8th is the feast day of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is observed as a Solemnity and a holy day of obligation in Ireland. 

On this weeks programme Fr John Mockler gives a short reflection on the feast day which you can listen to excerpted from the main programme HERE. 

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin, that twist in our nature that makes our will tend not to follow what it knows to be right. It was this grace that enabled Mary to give a true and considered “Yes” to the request, conveyed by the Angel Gabriel, that she should consent to be the mother of the incarnate God.

The doctrine was almost universally believed over the centuries but was only formally defined as a doctrine of the Church by Pope Pius IX in 1854. Because it is so old, it is one of the Marian doctrines that Islam shares with the Catholic Church, though of course the theological details are very different.

The core of the definition was solemnly set out in 1854 and was expressed in this way in the papal Constitution Inneffabilis Deus:

“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”

When Our Lady appeared at Lourdes to Bernadette Soubirous four years later and Bernadette asked her, "Would you kindly tell me who you are?", she replied: "I am the Immaculate Conception".

Gospel - Mark 13:33-37

Jesus said to his disciples:"Be watchful! Be alert!You do not know when the time will come.It is like a man traveling abroad.He leaves home and places his servants in charge,each with his own work,and orders the gatekeeper to be on the watch.Watch, therefore;you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming,whether in the evening, or at midnight,or at cockcrow, or in the morning.May he not come suddenly and find you sleeping.What I say to you, I say to all: 'Watch!'"

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Word on Fire
Sunday Reflections
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of Hours - Psalter week 1; First week of Advent

Saints of the Week

December 4th - St John Damascene 
December 5th - Bl Philip Rinaldi 
December 6th - St Nicholas
December 7th - St Ambrose of Milan
December 8th - Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin of Mary (First Friday)
December 9th - St Juan Diego Cuahtlatoatzin (the Seer of Guadalupe) (First Saturday)