Second Sunday of Advent: The Immaculate Conception
by VP
Posted on Sunday December 08, 2024 at 12:00AM in Sermons
"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways.”PROV. 8. 22.
1. The Redeemer and His Mother.
2. Therefore Immaculate for His honour.
3. No change of belief in the Church, but now all bound to believe the doctrine.
4. Effects: increase of devotion to Mary Immaculate; and more manifest proofs of the power of her intercession.
THE dominant thought in this holy time of Advent is the coming of the Redeemer. How appropriate it is, then, that there occurs at this time the Festival of the Immaculate Conception. For the Son of God offering Himself to become a Man to redeem us, a Mother had to be chosen for Him. A Mother of God! Picture the amazement of the angels in heaven that a human creature could possibly be so exalted! The purest, the holiest, the humblest of all the daughters of Eve was chosen.
But above all the endowments of grace, above all her virtues, one singular prerogative was needed and was granted. This chosen one should never for an instant be under the curse of fallen man. Original sin could not be allowed to taint her soul. "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways." This is what we believe in accepting and professing the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
But is it not the boast and glory of the Holy Catholic Church that its faith is and has been always the same? That what was believed from the first is the faith of all its children always and everywhere? How can this be, says the world, when within our memory the Immaculate Conception was declared to be an article of faith? The definition was simply a declaration that belief in the Immaculate Conception had always existed, and was the mind and sense of the Church. Proof irrefragable of this is found in holy Tradition, in the writings of the Fathers of the Church, in the unanimity of the rulers and the faithful of the Church in venerating our Lady's Conception as such. What had been formerly freely, willingly, lovingly believed, was now declared to be a necessary part of our belief. Henceforth obedience to the Church demanded full, explicit belief and profession of this doctrine, that Mary in the first instant of her Conception was preserved from every stain of original sin by the power of Almighty God, to His honour and glory, and the glory of His chosen Mother.
And why was this declaration necessary? To defend the honour and glory of Mary. Impiety was assailing her; disbelief was denying her holiness; and the world was sneering at her purity. Cowardly Catholics thought it prudent not to provoke impiety to insult our Lady and wished to be silent; and doubt was stealing into the souls of the poorly instructed, and of many seduced by the irreligious. Therefore for God's honour and glory, and of His Virgin Mother, it was made imperative to believe and to own that the Virgin Mary was Immaculate. What had formerly been professed in love, had now to be professed in obedience as well, by the loyal children of the Church.
The other saints and blessed ones of God are crowned with many graces, but Mary is "full of grace" and is favoured with one that no other can share with her. She is Immaculate! And this being her unique privilege, no other supplication to her touches her Mother's heart as this: "Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us, who have recourse to thee."
Two effects result from
this belief and profession in the Immaculate Conception. The first is a
wonderful increase in devotion to our Blessed Lady.
Not only have prayers been multiplied, but the wearing of her medals, the use of the Rosary, the holy pictures and statues in homes and in churches, all have increased. But above all we can notice the public testifying of our love and veneration of Mary. A few years ago, pilgrimages had almost died out in these countries. But now, not only is no one afraid to be a pilgrim, but publicly and enthusiastically pilgrimages are joined by rich and poor. The sneers of the world are silenced. Yea, even in non-Catholic papers we read paragraphs-tolerant, kindly, sympathetic-about the blind and ailing journeying to distant Lourdes in faith and hope, seeking the help of Mary Immaculate.
And does Mary fail to respond to her children's faith and trust? This is the second wonderful result in the belief in the Immaculate Conception: the miracles that Mary works through her intercession. There are countless wonders wrought in the souls of men; of those we know nothing. They are recorded by the angels. But we Catholics rejoice, and the world cannot deny, that there are many marvellous and incontestible miracles wrought year after year at Lourdes. In this age of doubt and unbelief, miracles are multiplied in behalf of those who turn to the Immaculate Virgin in their misery and distress. Thus this most favoured, honoured, exalted Queen of angels and of saints proves that she hearkens to and graciously answers the prayers of poor sinners. sinners. She loves to prove to us that, though she is the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, she is our Mother too. Though the Almighty "has done great things" for her, she does not disdain our humble prayers.
How meet and appropriate it is, then, that our Blessed Lady's festival is the harbinger of Christmas. Her unique dignity -Immaculate from the first moment of her Conception - was given that she might be worthy to be the Mother of our divine Saviour. Praise and glorify her on this great day, and for a reward for our devotion pray her to show us at Christmas her Son, our Saviour, and to obtain for us loyalty and fidelity to Him." Short Sermons on the Epistles & Gospels of the Sundays of the Year By Fr. Francis Paulinus Hickey
