There's Something About Mary

Today is the day that we remember and celebrate the Immaculate Conception. Many people believe that when we talk about the Immaculate Conception, we’re referring to when Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb. Ah, but this is not the case! That is what we are celebrating during the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. With the Immaculate Conception, we are referring to Mary’s conception. In 1854, Pope Pius IX pronounced that “in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin” (Ineffabilis Deus, 8 Dec. 1854). Basically, this means that we believe that Mary was conceived without original sin, which was important if she was to be the mother of Our Lord and Savior. Since she was the vessel of Our Lord, carrying him for 9 months, she would have to be without the tarnish of original sin, since he was without sin.

Many non-Catholics give us Catholics a hard time about Mary. There is a misunderstanding by many who believe that we “worship Mary”. This is absolutely NOT true. We do not worship anyone other than God. No one else is deserving of worship! No, we do not worship Mary, or any of the saints, for that matter. We honor Mary and the saints. We honor and respect Mary, but we do not “worship” her.

“But you guys PRAY to her…that’s the same thing!”

No. No, it’s not. Praying does not equal worshiping. To pray means to entreat or implore, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. When you pray, you are asking for something. When we pray to Mary or the saints, we’re not asking them to do something of their own accord. We ask them to intercede for us…to pray to God for us and bring our request to Him for us.

Think about it. We all do this! Say, for instance, a close friend or relative is ill. You pray for that person yourself. You probably will ask others to pray for that person as well. That is exactly what we Catholics do when we “pray” to Mary or one of the saints. We are asking them, “hey…could you please pray for me & ask God if it be His will that He (insert your request here)”. That’s it. We’re not asking THEM to heal us or to help us find a job or what have you. We’re asking them to take our request to God…to “put in a good word for us”, if you will.

Our beloved Pope John Paul II had a special devotion toward Mary. He loved her as his own mother, and credited her intercession for his survival of the assassination attempt on his life back in 1981. It would make sense that Mary’s intercession would carry some weight in heaven…after all, if your mother asked you to do something for someone, you would most likely do it, right?

Sing of Mary, pure and lowly, Virgin mother undefiled. Sing of God's own Son most holy, Who became her little child. Fairest child of fairest mother, God the Lord who came to earth, Word made flesh, our very brother, Takes our nature by his birth.

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

It is hard to believe that the season of Advent is upon us already. It always seems to me that there should be at least a week between Thanksgiving and Advent...that there should be a slower transition into the Christmas season. But really, that's what Advent is. It's the looking forward. It seems that the retail industry leaps straight into Christmas from October. It was November 1st of this year that I saw my first "Christmas" commercial on television. The week before Thanksgiving, a local radio station began it's 24/7 broadcast of nothing but Christmas music. It's hard not to get caught up in the push of the holiday season when you are bombarded with holiday sights and sounds for almost two months before December 25th.

Advent gives us an opportunity to slow things down. To reflect and prepare for the feast of Christmas. The word "Advent" is derived from the latin word "adventus", which means "coming". In the church calender, Advent is the time of preparation of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. We wait, prepare, and look forward to remembering his birth on the feast day of Christmas, but we also wait, prepare, and look forward to when he will come again.

For me, Advent was always a time that was marked by devotion and prayer. Growing up, our family always had an Advent wreath, and we would light the candles nightly, week by week, and read through a devotional book. We would have weekly Advent services at our church, in addition to the regular Sunday worship. These practices helped us to slow down our pace and remember what the season was really about.

This year, I am starting a new tradition, along with my usual Advent practices, thanks to the Dominican Nuns of Summit, New Jersey. In their blog, Moniales OP, they wrote of one of their traditions, which was to recite a prayer 15 times a day from November 30th, the Feast day of St. Andrew, until Christmas. It's a beautiful tradition. I am modifying it a bit though...I doubt I will have the discipline to recite the prayer 15 times a day, but I will recite it once a day, perhaps more, up until Christmas. It's a lovely prayer that is a great way to focus in on what we are preparing for throughout Advent:

Hail and blessed be the hour and moment in which the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary, at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold. In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God to hear my prayer and grand my desires through the merits of Our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and of His blessed Mother. Amen.

Try to incorporate something quiet into these next few week of Advent. Remember why this is "the most wonderful time of the year"...because it is the birthday of our Lord and Savior!

O Come, O Come Emmanuel! And ransom captive Israel, who mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear. Rejoice, Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you O Israel!