The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
We call this day, this great Solemnity, The Immaculate Conception The Blessed Virgin Mary.
Freed from the captivity of sin that mars our ability to love, she remained fully human like us. As we can be at times before the Presence of God, she was perplexed when Gabriel said to her, “Hail. Full of Grace. The Lord is with you.”
Holy Mother of God, our Mother, too, hold us tenderly; take us by the hand into the heart of Jesus where we can hide and rest as the darkness and chaos of sin swirls in its futile attempt to destroy us.
Thank you, bless you and praise you for your yes to the angel who told you the incomprehensible message that you, as a virgin, would conceive and bear a son, to be named Jesus. Gabriel explained how this would happen, “ The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Holy Spirit will overshadow you…” In that moment of wonder and perplexity, you freely abandoned yourself saying, “let it be done to me.”
In his homily in Malta, John Paul II told us, “...At the foot of the Cross, Mary is fully revealed as Mother of the Church, Mater Ecclesiae inviting each of us to trust in her prayers. Let us never hesitate to turn to her! How often, in your families, do you feel powerless in the face of painful and apparently insoluble situations?..”
I place all my weakness, all my sins into your Immaculate heart dear Mother. I never hesitate, I run to you, though at times my faith can be so feeble, my running so slow and weak. You know me and love me. You have seen my tears flowing from the love I have for my sons and daughters who suffer. Yours flowed, too at the sight of your son’s suffering and death.
Help me to love Jesus with an unwavering trust that he will never let me be separated from him and that he has my seven in his arms carrying them home.
Help me to do what he tells me.
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