Rejoice, O highly favored!

SOLEMNITY of the

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

December 8

"Upon arriving, the angel said to her: 'Rejoice, O highly favored daughter!

The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.' " ~ Luke 1:28

Excerpt from a homily in St Patrick's Cathedral - December 8, 1996 -

John Cardinal O'Connor...

"Today is the date of the Immaculate Conception,

the eighth of December...Mary was made
immaculate, conceived without any trace of sin
because she was going to be the co-creator of the
humanity of Christ.  She was going to be, as God
the Father was the Creator, re-creator of the human 
race with Christ.  She was going to be the
tabernacle in which Christ would be conceived. 

    We cannot now, of course, be conceived without

original sin.  But the more we can purify ourselves

through the Sacrament of Penance, through our
own penances, through trying to observe the

Commandments and keeping close to Christ,
then the more fitting we become as tabernacles
of the Eucharist.

    All of this requires an effort, perhaps for some
an unaccustomed effort.  St Augustine tells us the
reward.  He was still in process of conversion from
a highly profligate, promiscuous life.  Then he went
into a Catholic community to worship in the
Eucharistic sacrifice.  He said to a Catholic friend:

        

    "How I wept, deeply moved by your hymns, songs,

and the voices that echoed through your Church! 

What emotion I experienced in them!  Those sounds

flowed through my ears, distilling the Truth in my heart. 

A feeling of devotion surged within me and the
tears streamed down my face - tears that did me good."

    May that be our experience in this Holy Sacrifice

of the Mass."