WEDNESDAY REFLECTION
Mid-week Reflection
8th December 2020
This week we celebrated the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. First of all, it might be of interest to explain what is meant by a Solemnity. It is a feast day of the highest rank celebrating a mystery of faith such as the Trinity, an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Mary, or another hugely essential saint like Peter or Paul and, indeed, of All Saints. Solemnities are of such importance that they would replace the celebration of Sundays outside Advent, Lent, and Easter.
The Immaculate Conception is such a mystery of our Faith. Mary is treated from her very beginning-moment, with such privilege. If only the secular world did the same. The Scottish nation can take pride in that Blessed John Duns Scotus, 500 years before the promulgation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, was a great champion of this truth. The Gospel chosen for Mass today concerns the Virginal Conception of Christ perhaps to point to the vital connection between Jesus and the Immaculate Conception of His Mother Mary. The belief is that Mary, who unlike us was not a fallen human being, was conceived without the stain of Original Sin. It’s a very pro-life doctrine. It was not the conception of a bundle of cells. It was the conception of a real human being. The shame of it is that the world has the power to care for every human life and yet uses that power to kill and destroy the most vulnerable of its unborn children. So, the belief is very up-to-date. It teaches us that God prepared Mary for her vocation by means of the unique grace to be immaculate, to be without sin….and….from the first moment of her life, when she was conceived by her mum and dad.
During this Season of Advent, it would be a good thing to try to get to Confession or, if the proves not to be possible, to be especially sincere and attentive to Acts of Contrition. It would also be a good thing to try to get to Holy Mass, but if that proves not to be possible, to watch Mass live-streamed. It is vital that we do not think watching Mass on the internet is the equivalent of attending Mass. It is not. But it can help strengthen our spiritual lives. Monsignor Peter Magee on Sunday had a clever point. Let’s not just put Christ back into Christmas. Let’s put Mass back into Christmas! By our desire to be free of our tendency towards sinful lives, we prepare ourselves for Christ. By her sinless-life Mary shows us best how to receive Jesus into our lives…and not just at Christmas.
Let us Pray:
Father, we rejoice in the privilege of our Lady’s Immaculate Conception, which preserved her from the stain of sin by the power of Christ’s redeeming death, and prepared her to be the Mother of God. Grant that through her prayers we ourselves may come to you, cleansed from all sin. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Monsignor Monaghan
