Homily
Father Jerry Gauvreau C.C.
Annunciation of the Lord Parish,
Ottawa, ON, Canada
Immaculate Conception Dec. 8th
The
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary is truly a most beautiful
Solemnity we celebrate today, especially in the Church’s Year of Faith.
Our Blessed
Mother Mary not only shows us how to have Faith in God but also how to step out
into expectant Faith all the while believing in ourselves!
In 1830,
Our Blessed Mother appeared to a young girl by the name of Catherine Laboure.
In these
apparitions, it was Mary who revealed or instructed Catherine to have the
Miraculous medal made – Catherine spoke
to her Spiritual Director and it was then proposed to the Archbishop (of Paris)
who agreed and allowed the medal to be made.
For a more
detailed explanation see the book: 33 Days to Morning Glory by Fr. Michael E.
Gaitley, MIC pg. 169,170
Back of the
medal: letter M with a Cross above it and a crossbar below it - 12 Stars (apostles)
circling this and under the letter M there are 2 hearts – Sacred Heart with
crown of thorns & Immaculate Heart, pierced by a sword.
On the front
of the medal; Mary as the Immaculate Conception with the date 1830 and circling
Mary are words inscribed which say: “Mary conceived without sin, pray for us
who have recourse to thee.” (recourse-turning to thee – turning to someone for
help)
The
Miraculous medal back then was actually known as the medal of the Immaculate
Conception but due to so many cures and miracles people started to call it the
Miraculous Medal.
At the time
of Our Lady appearing to St. Catherine in 1830 the Immaculate Conception of
Mary was widely believed throughout the Church but it wasn’t a dogma of our
faith.
Around 1847
it was Pope Pius IX who consulted with the Cardinals and the theologians of the
church to help him discern whether or not the Immaculate Conception should be
defined as a dogma of the Church - the Cardinals agreed and then over 603
bishops of the world were asked for their input – 543 agreed (4 said no and the
rest abstained) on Dec.8th 1854.
The definition itself reads as follows: "We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."
The definition itself reads as follows: "We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her conception by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."
Just 4
years later in 1858 this dogma of our Faith was confirmed in the Marian
Apparitions to St. Bernadette in Lourdes. After persistent requests from St. Bernadette as to who she was
Mary said to her: “I am the Immaculate
Conception.”
Just to
re-cap: The apparitions of Our Blessed
Mother to St. Catherine back in 1830 about the Miraculous Medal prepared us for
the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854, and the apparitions at Lourdes
to St. Bernadette in 1858 confirmed it.
Turn to
Mary today with open hearts for it is when we have open hearts that the Lord
will fill them up with Himself
Last night
at the CCO Summit – which consisted of a talk, Eucharistic Adoration, praise
and worship and confessions, the young lady who spoke challenged all of us to
Prepare Him room – "are we doing it?” she asked
Mary said
Yes – why can`t we? What’s holding us
back?
A few years
ago in one of Our Blessed Mother’s messages (during Lent) from Medugorje, Mary,
Our Lady Queen of Peace said: "our
freedom is our weakness."
This Advent and in the church’s Year of Faith I would like all of us to use our freedom as our strength – choose Jesus!
This Advent and in the church’s Year of Faith I would like all of us to use our freedom as our strength – choose Jesus!
I encourage
everyone today to turn to our Blessed Mother Mary. In fact, each day we need to
beg her to obtain the graces we need to totally surrender our hearts to Jesus,
to say yes to him just as she did. Pope
Benedict XVI says: Mary is Mother of the Yes.
I think
many sons & daughters would learn plenty from their mother- no question Jesus did. We need to pay attention or start paying
attention to what Our Blessed Mother is telling us. At the Wedding Feast of
Cana, Jesus turned water into wine.
Mary
instructed the servers to do whatever Jesus told them to do. This is certainly a good word for us today!
If you’re not
sure what this “do whatever he tells you
to do” is for your own life - just
ask Mary for help – ask Mary to help you love the Lord Jesus with all your
heart as she did.
Fr. Dennis
Lemieux from MH in his book, the Air We Breathe encourages us to: sit at the
feet of Mary today, to contemplate her and to ask her in silence and prayer to
teach us what we need to know about loving God – Amen!
Father Jerry Gauvreau C.C.
After Mass the Knights of Columbus led us in a beautiful Rosary for Life. Click Here to pray this rosary
