This Monday the church celebrates the feast of the Immaculate Conception. It is a Holy Day of obligation. We will NOT have a vigil on Sunday evening just one Mass at 6:30 on Monday December 8th. Additionly those who wish to stay and pray the Miraculous Medal Novena we will be saying that novena immediately following Mass. Why is this celebration so important to salvation history and what is it exactly that we celebrate on this day? Let’s begin by clarifying a few things. First, The Immaculate Conception and most all Marian celebrations are not in Scripture. That does not mean they didn’t happen. The scripture is part of a two-source revelation of Jesus Christ. As Catholics, we believe that both Scripture and Tradition are a two-source revelation of our faith. The Church, the living reality of Jesus on earth, can and does proclaim articles of our faith that have been part of our tradition and yet may not be in the Bible. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is one of those proclaimed feasts. It is a ‘dogma’ of the church. What is a ‘dogma’? I defer to Cardinal Avery Dulles as he provides an excellent definition of what a Church Dogma is. “In current Catholic usage, the term “dogma” means a divinely revealed truth, proclaimed as such by the infallible teaching authority of the Church, and hence binding on all the faithful without exception, now and forever. [The Survival of Dogma, 153].” What does the Immaculate Conception mean? It is a Roman Catholic dogma asserting that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was preserved free from the effects of the sin of Adam (usually referred to as “original sin”) from the first instant of her conception. It is not about Jesus in Mary’s womb, but Mary’s conception by her parents, St. Anne and Joachim. The very soul that would bear God Himself in a human form was from the first moment of her conception, without sin. Thus, the Immaculate Conception, a very Holy Day that celebrates our salvation history in and through the YES of the Blessed Virgin Mary. As life can often bring difficulties, doubt, and struggles, let us not forget those words of Mary, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Let it be done unto me as you will.” Fr. Roach
