Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Doctrinal Information about the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Genesis 3:9-15, 20
The LORD God then 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Gn 3:9-15, 20
Adam and Eve are confronted by God after having eaten from the Tree of Wisdom the fruit of which was forbidden to them. Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent. Thus the identity of the serpent is now synonymous with the Devil. This passage, because of that linkage can now be classified as the first prediction of the Messianic struggle with evil and ultimate victory.
Contained here is the scriptural evidence of Original Sin. The story is also called “The Fall” as God’s human creation (personified in Adam and Eve) falls from grace and is condemned to suffer the struggle to regain the blessed state throughout history. Mankind has disobeyed God and defied his will; in doing so sin and death enter the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
R. (1) Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
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. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
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. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
A song of victory that is attributed to the Lord and one of awe for the deeds he has done on behalf of his people. Given to us on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception we can relate the victory to the unblemished creation of the Blessed Mother.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Eph 1:3-6, 11-12
Paul speaks to the Ephesians about their adoption by God as sons and daughters. He relates in typical Pauline fashion the omnipotence and timelessness of God’s knowledge and actions. The emphasis in this selection is “Chosen”. We were chosen (“…to be holy and without blemish before him.”) to accomplish His will just as he chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the unblemished vessel of our Savior Jesus Christ.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 1:26-38
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel is the story of Mary being informed by the Archangel Gabriel that she has been chosen for the great privilege of baring the Savior of the World. St. Mary graciously accepts this honor although with very human fear indicating that her free will is at play – making her obedience to God’s will more powerful. It is proposed that with this acceptance, Mary entered into a vow of perpetual virginity because of the demands of Isaiah 7:14 (“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”)
This announcement is parallel to the Zechariah’s news about John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-23), which is also delivered by the Angel Gabriel. This passage clearly identifies Jesus as Son of David and Son of God thus linking it with the messianic predictions from the Old Testament. Also very important in this story is Mary’s incredulous response; “’How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?’" establishing her virgin status and is a declaration of the Spirit’s role in the conception.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Who could make such a choice; to accept the essence of God, incarnated in human form? Who could choose to give up any possibility of a normal life to become the mother of the Son of God? Who could be worthy to accept the deposit of perfection that was the person of Jesus, absolute perfection in form and spirit? These are the questions asked by the Apostles and Fathers of the Church as they contemplated St. Mary’s acquiescence to the will of God.
Numerous chains of logic have been applied to demonstrate how St. Mary could only have been the Immaculate Conception; how the Archangel Gabriel had addressed her (pronounced her) “Hail, full of grace!” The only way the Blessed Mother could be “full of grace” would be the absolute absence of sin, which necessarily included original sin.
We do not get the full impact of the Archangel’s statement in its English translation. In Greek the words used were chaire kecharitōmenē. The word charis in St. Luke’s Gospel is associated with chare –joy and wisdom (sophia). St. Luke is saying she is not simply “fullness” but Holy Mary is an instrument of grace. To quote the scripture scholar Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. “Luke's word puts the emphasis upon the source of goodness rather than upon its effects. In regard to Mary, therefore, he points out that she is the object of God's grace and favor. Because the verb is also a participle, Mary is shown to have been chosen for a long time past; God's full flow of favor has already been concentrating upon her.”[4] The grace that flows in her and through her was therefore established from before her conception and perforce without sin – immaculate.
It is for this reason we celebrate this day in all solemnity. God chose his holy instrument to bring life back into a world that had fallen to sin and death with Adam and Eve’s great failure. A loving Father sends his beloved Son to us free of sin himself to become the sacrifice that makes us whole. The Immaculate Conception in the person of St. Mary is the only way this could happen. She herself, full of grace was conceived without sin so that through her life could enter the world once more. For us we ask her again and perpetually - Pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture used today is “The Immaculate Conception” by Giuseppe Angeli, 1765
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
[4] See Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:31
Doctrinal Information about the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
Readings for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception[1][2]
Readings from the Jerusalem Bible
Readings and Commentary:[3]
Reading 1: Genesis 3:9-15, 20
The LORD God then 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Gn 3:9-15, 20
Adam and Eve are confronted by God after having eaten from the Tree of Wisdom the fruit of which was forbidden to them. Adam blames Eve, and Eve blames the serpent. Thus the identity of the serpent is now synonymous with the Devil. This passage, because of that linkage can now be classified as the first prediction of the Messianic struggle with evil and ultimate victory.
Contained here is the scriptural evidence of Original Sin. The story is also called “The Fall” as God’s human creation (personified in Adam and Eve) falls from grace and is condemned to suffer the struggle to regain the blessed state throughout history. Mankind has disobeyed God and defied his will; in doing so sin and death enter the world.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
R. (1) Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
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. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
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. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation by our God.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, all you lands;
break into song; sing praise.
R. Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous deeds.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Ps 98:1, 2-3ab, 3cd-4
A song of victory that is attributed to the Lord and one of awe for the deeds he has done on behalf of his people. Given to us on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception we can relate the victory to the unblemished creation of the Blessed Mother.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reading II: Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12
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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Eph 1:3-6, 11-12
Paul speaks to the Ephesians about their adoption by God as sons and daughters. He relates in typical Pauline fashion the omnipotence and timelessness of God’s knowledge and actions. The emphasis in this selection is “Chosen”. We were chosen (“…to be holy and without blemish before him.”) to accomplish His will just as he chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the unblemished vessel of our Savior Jesus Christ.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, 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.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commentary on Lk 1:26-38
This passage from St. Luke’s Gospel is the story of Mary being informed by the Archangel Gabriel that she has been chosen for the great privilege of baring the Savior of the World. St. Mary graciously accepts this honor although with very human fear indicating that her free will is at play – making her obedience to God’s will more powerful. It is proposed that with this acceptance, Mary entered into a vow of perpetual virginity because of the demands of Isaiah 7:14 (“Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign: the virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”)
This announcement is parallel to the Zechariah’s news about John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-23), which is also delivered by the Angel Gabriel. This passage clearly identifies Jesus as Son of David and Son of God thus linking it with the messianic predictions from the Old Testament. Also very important in this story is Mary’s incredulous response; “’How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?’" establishing her virgin status and is a declaration of the Spirit’s role in the conception.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reflection:
Who could make such a choice; to accept the essence of God, incarnated in human form? Who could choose to give up any possibility of a normal life to become the mother of the Son of God? Who could be worthy to accept the deposit of perfection that was the person of Jesus, absolute perfection in form and spirit? These are the questions asked by the Apostles and Fathers of the Church as they contemplated St. Mary’s acquiescence to the will of God.
Numerous chains of logic have been applied to demonstrate how St. Mary could only have been the Immaculate Conception; how the Archangel Gabriel had addressed her (pronounced her) “Hail, full of grace!” The only way the Blessed Mother could be “full of grace” would be the absolute absence of sin, which necessarily included original sin.
We do not get the full impact of the Archangel’s statement in its English translation. In Greek the words used were chaire kecharitōmenē. The word charis in St. Luke’s Gospel is associated with chare –joy and wisdom (sophia). St. Luke is saying she is not simply “fullness” but Holy Mary is an instrument of grace. To quote the scripture scholar Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P. “Luke's word puts the emphasis upon the source of goodness rather than upon its effects. In regard to Mary, therefore, he points out that she is the object of God's grace and favor. Because the verb is also a participle, Mary is shown to have been chosen for a long time past; God's full flow of favor has already been concentrating upon her.”[4] The grace that flows in her and through her was therefore established from before her conception and perforce without sin – immaculate.
It is for this reason we celebrate this day in all solemnity. God chose his holy instrument to bring life back into a world that had fallen to sin and death with Adam and Eve’s great failure. A loving Father sends his beloved Son to us free of sin himself to become the sacrifice that makes us whole. The Immaculate Conception in the person of St. Mary is the only way this could happen. She herself, full of grace was conceived without sin so that through her life could enter the world once more. For us we ask her again and perpetually - Pray for us, sinners, now and at the hour of our death.
Pax
[1] ALTRE
[2] The picture used today is “The Immaculate Conception” by Giuseppe Angeli, 1765
[3] Text of Readings is taken from the New American Bible, Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Excerpts from the English translation of The Roman Missal © 1973, International Committee on English in the Liturgy, Inc. All rights reserved.
[4] See Jerome Biblical Commentary, Prentice Hall, Inc., © 1968, 44:31
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