The LORD spoke to Ahaz:
Ask for a sign from the LORD, your God;
let it be deep as the nether world, or high as the sky!
But Ahaz answered,
"I will not ask! I will not tempt the LORD!"
Then Isaiah said:
Listen, O house of David!
Is it not enough for you to weary men,
must you also weary my God?
Therefore the Lord himself will give you this sign:
the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and shall name him Emmanuel.
R./ Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
The Lord’s are the earth and its fullness;
the world and those who dwell in it.
For he founded it upon the seas
and established it upon the rivers.
R./ Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
Who can ascend the mountain of the Lord?
or who may stand in his holy place?
He whose hands are sinless, whose heart is clean,
who desires not what is vain.
R./ Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
He shall receive a blessing from the Lord,
a reward from God his savior.
Such is the race that seeks for him,
that seeks the face of the God of Jacob.
R./ Let the Lord enter; he is the king of glory.
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.
On December 8th, we celebrated the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The text from Luke proclaimed today—the story of Gabriel’s announcement to Mary—is key to the definition of this Dogma. Under the title of “Immaculate,” she is the Patroness of Spain, of several Latin American countries, and traditionally even of the Infantry and pharmacists…
The Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was officially proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854, but the Church’s faith in this Marian privilege goes back much further, perhaps as early as the 3rd century. Christian art, especially in 16th-century painting, depicts Mary as the Woman of Revelation, wearing a crown of twelve stars. Liturgical music and various prayers also allude to this deep conviction: Mary was free from sin from the very moment she was conceived.
It is likely that Spain is the country where devotion to La Purísima (the Most Pure) has the deepest roots. Perhaps this devotion seems excessive to some; indeed, some other Christian denominations criticize Catholics for an “exaggerated cult” that supposedly distracts from the centrality of Jesus Christ, the sole Redeemer.
I believe that this misunderstanding—which is what I consider it to be—would disappear if they gave the Rosary a try. I am not kidding. This devotion has an undeniable biblical foundation because it consists of the repetition of the Our Father and the Hail Mary. Jesus taught His disciples the Our Father. The Hail Mary is taken directly from the Gospel of Luke: Gabriel greets her calling her “full of grace,” and Elizabeth, her cousin, says of her, “Blessed are you among women.”
Furthermore, each group of Our Fathers and Hail Marys flows through a “Mystery.” These Mysteries of the Rosary are, quite simply, a journey through the life of Jesus, from the Incarnation to the Resurrection. Praying the Rosary is not just the plea: “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners.” It is the prayer of the simple of heart who use a simple exercise to know, contemplate, and deepen, little by little, the mystery of Christ’s Redemption. Naturally, it is also a way to ask the Lord’s Mother to present our petitions to Him.
In his Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae, published in 2002, John Paul II affirmed that the Rosary is not a devotion centered on Mary, but on Christ. It is a meditation on the life of Jesus through the eyes of His Mother, a “compendium” of the Gospel.
In the opening prayer of today’s liturgy, we ask the Lord that, following the example of the Blessed Virgin, we may humbly accept His will. May our life be a permanent “let it be done” like hers.
Virginia Fernández
Introduction
The two beautiful texts of today correspond to each other as promise and fulfillment of the promise.Opening Prayer
God of the poor and the humble,General Intercessions
- Lord our God, make us aware of our poverty, that you may fill it with your riches, we pray:
- Lord, that like Mary we may accept and deeply believe in your word and live by it, we pray:
- Lord, let your Spirit awaken in us great aspirations of goodness and service, that we may bring people closer to Christ, we pray:
Prayer over the Gifts
God of mercy and love,
by the power of the Holy Spirit
your Son became man
and was born of the Virgin Mary.
By the power of this same Spirit,
let your Son come among us
in these signs of bread and wine
and gather us together in love,
that we may become to the world today
the presence and the message
of Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Prayer after Communion
Lord, mighty God,
you spoke your word to the Virgin Mary
and she accepted it readily in faith;
you committed your Son to her
and she gave him to all humankind.
May the Good News you have spoken to us,
stir our hearts to share it with all
as a liberating message
and may the bread of life we have eaten
make us free for the life you give us
through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Blessing
God keeps his promises. He is trustworthy and loving. Do we too keep our promises? May we become reliable and worthy of trust, with the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
