THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY - 2023

DAILY HOLY MASS READINGS

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee!
Blessed art thou among women. LK 1:28

\

GENESIS 3:9-15,20 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

When we are in friendship with You Lord, we are always in Your holy Presence, but when we sin as Adam did then we hide but You love us and desire that we return to You and You come in search of us. You look for the lost sheep and will not stop searching until You find that one miserable sinner who wanders far from grace and truth. Not only do You come looking for us, Lord, but on finding us You rejoice, and not just You, but heaven rejoices when a sinner is found and restored to the flock.

You came in pursuit of Adam, You would not let him hide from You but called out, 'Where are you?' And Adam who once walked with You and spoke to You in the cool of the evening, said ‘I heard the sound of you in the garden;  I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.’ When we sin, we strip ourselves of grace. Sin exposes us and reveals that without Your help we have nothing and are nothing. 

We look at our world today and see how original sin has wounded us and how far we have wandered from the path of righteousness and truth. We seem to be firmly in the vice-like grip of the Enemy. The serpent is coiled around us and is choking the life out of us and all hope seems to have fled. But You O Father, created us for Yourself and You will not permit the Enemy to steal, plunder, devour, and destroy what is Yours. Thank You, for not giving up on us but for sending Your only and most Beloved Son. incarnate of the peerless Virgin Mary to enter into our brokenness, our woundedness, and taking upon Himself the punishment that was ours. 

We are grateful to the New Eve for her, 'Yes' to You, Father, and for the 'Yes' of the New Adam to Your plan of salvation for the whole world. 

Thank You, Lord Jesus for taking upon Yourself the debt we owed and paying it for we owed a debt we could never pay. 

PSALM 97(98):1-4 ©

Sing a new song to the Lord

for he has worked wonders.
His right hand and his holy arm
have brought salvation.

The Lord has made known his salvation;

has shown his justice to the nations.
He has remembered his truth and love
for the house of Israel.

All the ends of the earth have seen

the salvation of our God.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth,
ring out your joy.

Sing a new song to the Lord for he has worked wonders.

EPHESIANS 1:3-6,11-12 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

St. Paul describes so eloquently and brilliantly what God our Father did first and foremost through Mary when He invited her to play the pivotal role that would give the world its Savior. God first conferred on Mary and gave her a share of the first fruits of Your redemption fruit that the whole world would ultimately receive through Your salvific work. The Virgin Mary was chosen by God in You and for You to become Your Mother. 

This hymn of Your Father's goodness to us His adopted children is possible only because of the Virgin's immaculate conception and her cooperation by her 'fiat' to the will of God.

Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us with all the spiritual blessings of heaven in Christ.
Before the world was made, he chose us, chose us in Christ,
to be holy and spotless, and to live through love in his presence,
determining that we should become his adopted sons, through Jesus Christ
for his own kind purposes,
to make us praise the glory of his grace,
his free gift to us in the Beloved,
And it is in him that we were claimed as God’s own,
chosen from the beginning,
under the predetermined plan of the one who guides all things
as he decides by his own will;
chosen to be,
for his greater glory,
the people who would put their hopes in Christ before he came.

LUKE 1:26-38 ©

My Soul's Beloved,

In some small way, every baptized Christian experiences what the Virgin Mary, Your Mother, and by Your gracious will, our Mother as well experienced at the Annunciation. 

God is constantly visiting His people, You come to us always in so many different ways. In fact, not only do You visit us but You, Emmanuel, are with us just as the angel revealed to Mary when he greeted her, ‘Rejoice, so highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ Mary is the foremost daughter of the Father, Your Mother, and ours too because You have entrusted us to her. She is the spouse of the Holy Spirit just as the Church, of which we are members, is espoused to You. We have won God's favor because of the merits that You won for us. We have been chosen by God in You before the foundations of the world however, Mary was chosen by God for a singular work. She was to be a sanctuary, a temple, a tabernacle for You - in the words of Gabriel, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will cover you with its shadow. And so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God.’

Mary's response to God's invitation was, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord, let what you have said be done to me.’ this has always been her response to the will of God and this must be our response too for as long as we live.  Beloved. Grant us the grace to model our lives on Mary's and by her powerful intercession with You may she obtain for us the grace to always say yes to Your will for our lives.