December 8 -
THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE
MOST BLESSED VIRGIN
By Dom Prosper Guéranger –
The Liturgical Year
At length, on the distant horizon, rises, with a soft and
radiant light, the aurora of the Sun which has been so long desired. The happy
Mother of the Messias was to be born before the Messias himself; and this is
the day of the Conception of Mary. The earth already possesses a first pledge
of the divine mercy; the Son of Man is near at hand. Two true Israelites,
Joachim and Anne, noble branches of the family of David, find their union,
after a long barrenness, made fruitful by the divine omnipotence. Glory be to
God, who has been mindful of his promises, and who deigns to announce, from the
high heavens, the end of the deluge of iniquity, by sending upon the earth the
sweet white Dove that bears the tidings of peace!
The Feast of the
Blessed Virgin's Immaculate Conception is the most solemn of all those which
the Church celebrates during the holy time of Advent; and if the first part of
the Cycle had to offer us the commemoration of some one of the Mysteries of
Mary, there was none whose object could better harmonize with the spirit of the
Church in this mystic season of expectation. Let us, then, celebrate this
solemnity with joy; for the Conception of Mary tells us that the birth of Jesus
is not far off.
The intention of
the Church, in this Feast, is not only to celebrate the anniversary of the
happy moment in which began, in the womb of the pious Anne, the life of the
ever-glorious Virgin Mary; but also to honour the sublime privilege, by which
Mary was preserved from the original stain, which, by a sovereign and universal
decree, is contracted by all the children of Adam the very moment they are
conceived in their mother's womb. The faith of the Catholic Church on the
subject of the Conception of Mary is this: that at the very instant, when God
united the Soul of Mary, which he had created, to the Body which it was to
animate, this ever-blessed Soul did not only not contract the stain, which, at
that same instant, defiles every human soul, but was filled with an immeasurable
grace which rendered her, from that moment, the mirror of the sanctity of God
himself, as far as this is possible to a creature. The Church, with her
infallible authority, declared, by the lips of Pius the Ninth, that this
article of her faith had been revealed by God himself. The Definition was
received with enthusiasm by the whole of Christendom, and the Eighth of
December of the year 1854 was thus made one of the most memorable days of the
Church's history.
It was due to
his own infinite sanctity that God should suspend, in this instance, the law
which his divine justice had passed upon all the children of Adam. The
relations which Mary was to bear to the Divinity, could not be reconciled with
her undergoing the humiliation of this punishment. She was not only Daughter of
the Eternal Father ; she was destined also to become the very Mother of the
Son, and the veritable Spouse of the Holy Ghost; nothing defiled could be
permitted to enter, even for an atom of time, into the creature that was thus
predestined to contract such close relations with the adorable Trinity; not a
speck could be permitted to tarnish in Mary that perfect purity which the
infinitely holy God requires in those who are one day to be admitted to enjoy
even the sight of his divine majesty in heaven; in a word, as the great Doctor
St. Anselm says, it was just that this Holy Virgin Should be adorned with the
greatest purity which can be conceived after that of God himself, since God the
Father was to give to her, as her Child, that only Begotten Son, whom he loved
as himself, as being begotten to him from his own bosom; and this in such a
manner, that the self-same Son of God was, by nature, the Son of both God the
Father and of this Blessed Virgin. This same Son chose her to be substantially
his Mother; and the Holy Ghost willed that in Her womb he would operate the conception
and birth of Him, from whom he himself proceeded.
Moreover, the
close ties which were to unite the Son of God with Mary, and which would elicit
from him the tenderest love and the most filial reverence for her, had been
present to the divine thought from all eternity: and the conclusion forces
itself upon us, that, therefore, the Divine Word had for this his future Mother
a love infinitely greater than that which he bore for all his other creatures.
Mary's honour was infinitely dear to him, because she was to be his Mother,
chosen to be so by his eternal and merciful decrees. The Son's love protected
the Mother. She, indeed, in her sublime humility, willingly submitted to
whatever the rest of God's creatures had brought on themselves, and obeyed
every tittle of those laws which were never meant for her: but that humiliating
barrier, which confronts every child of Adam at the first moment of his existence,
and keeps him from light and grace until he shall have been re generated by a
new birth, — oh! this could not be permitted to stand in Mary's way, — her Son
forbade it.
The Eternal
Father would not do less for the Second Eve than he had done for the First; yet
she was created, as was also the first Adam, in the state of original justice,
which she afterwards forfeited by sin. The Son of God would not permit that the
Woman, from whom he was to take the nature of Man, should be deprived of that gift
which he had given even to her who was the mother of sin. The Holy Ghost, who
was to overshadow Mary and produce Jesus within her by his divine operation,
would not permit that foul stain, in which we are all conceived, to rest, even
for an instant, on this his Spouse. All men were to contract the sin of Adam;
the sentence was universal; but God's own Mother is not included. God, who is
the author of that law ; God, who was free to make it as he willed; had power
to exclude from it Her whom he had predestined to be his Own in so many ways ;
he could exempt her, and it was just that he should exempt her; therefore, he
did it.
Was it not this
grand exemption which God himself foretold, when the guilty pair, whose
children we all are, appeared before him in the Garden of Eden? In the anathema
which fell upon the serpent, there was included a promise of mercy to us. I
will put enmities, said the Lord, between thee and the
Woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head.
Thus was salvation promised the human race under the form of a victory over
Satan; and this victory is to be gained by the Woman, and she will gain it for
us also. Even granting, as some read this text, that it is the Son of the Woman
that is alone to gain this victory, the enmity between the Woman and the
Serpent is clearly expressed, and she, the Woman, with her own foot, is to
crush the head of the hated Serpent. The Second Eve is to be worthy of the
Second Adam, conquering and not to be conquered. The human race is one day to
be avenged, not only by God made Man, but also by the Woman miraculously
exempted from every stain of sin, in whom the primeval creation, which was in
justice and holiness, will thus reappear in her, just as though the original
sin had never been committed.
Raise up your
heads, then, ye children of Adam, and shake off your chains! This day, the
humiliation, which weighed you down, is annihilated. Behold! Mary, she who is
of the same flesh and blood as yourselves, has seen the torrent of sin, which
swept along all the generations of mankind, she has seen it flow back at her
presence and not touch her; the infernal dragon has turned away his head,
daring not to breathe his venom upon her; the dignity of your origin is given
to her in all its primitive grandeur. This happy day, then, on which the
original purity of your race is renewed, must be a Feast to you. The Second Eve
is created, and from her own blood, (which, with the exception of the element
of sin, is the same as that which makes you to be the children of Adam,) she is
shortly to give you the God-Man, who proceeds from her according to the flesh,
as he proceeds from the Father according to the eternal generation.
And how can we
do less than admire and love the incomparable purity of Mary in her Immaculate
Conception, when we hear even that God, who thus prepared her to become his
Mother, saying to her, in the divine Canticle, these words of complacent love:
Thou art all fair, O my Love! and there is not a spot in thee! It is the God of
all-holiness that here speaks; that eye, which sees all things, finds not a
vestige, not a shadow of sin; therefore does he delight in her, and admire in
her that gift of his own condescending munificence. We cannot be surprised
after this, that Gabriel, when he came down from heaven to announce the
Incarnation to her, is full of admiration at the sight of that purity, whose
beginning was so glorious and whose progress was immeasurable; and that this
blessed Spirit should bow down profoundly before this young Maid of Nazareth,
and salute her with, "Hail, O Full of Grace!" And who is this
Gabriel? An Archangel, that lives amidst the grandest magnificences of God's
creation, amidst all the gorgeous riches of heaven; who is Brother to the
Cherubim and Seraphim, to the Thrones and Dominations; whose eye is accustomed
to gaze on those nine angelic choirs with their dazzling brightness of
countless degrees of light and grace; he has found on earth, in a creature of a
nature below that of Angels, the fullness of grace, of that grace which had
been given to the Angels measuredly. This fullness of grace was in Mary from
the very first instant of her existence. She is the future Mother of God, and
she was ever holy, ever pure, ever Immaculate.
This truth of
Mary's Immaculate Conception, which was revealed to the Apostles by the divine
Son of Mary, inherited by the Church, taught by the Holy Fathers, believed by
each generation of the Christian people with an ever increasing explicitness,
this truth, we say, was implied in the very notion of a Mother of God. To
believe that Mary was Mother of God, was an implicitly believing that she, on
whom this sublime dignity was conferred, had never been defiled with the
slightest stain of sin, and that God had bestowed upon her an absolute
exemption from sin. But now, the Immaculate Conception of Mary rests on an
explicit Definition dictated by the Holy Ghost. Peter has spoken by the mouth
of Pius; and when Peter has spoken, every Christian should believe; for the Son
of God has said: I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. And
again: The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you
all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to
you.
The Symbol of
our faith has therefore received not a new truth, but a new light on a truth
which was previously the object of the universal belief. On that great day of
the Definition, the infernal serpent was again crushed beneath the victorious
foot of the Virgin-Mother, and the Lord graciously gave us the strongest pledge
of his mercy. He still loves this guilty earth, since he has deigned to en
lighten it with one of the brightest rays of his Mother's glory. How this earth
of ours exulted! The present generation will never forget the enthusiasm with
which the entire universe received the tidings of the Definition. It was an
event of mysterious importance which thus marked this second half of our
century; and we shall look forward to the future with renewed confidence; for if
the Holy Ghost bids us tremble for the days when Truths are diminished among
the children of men, he would, consequently, have us look on those times as
blessed by God in which we receive an increase of truth; an increase both in
light and in authority.
The Church,
even before the solemn proclamation of the grand dogma, kept the Feast of this
8th day of December; which was, in reality, a profession of her faith. It is
true, that the Feast was not called the Immaculate Conception, but simply the
Conception of Mary. But the fact of such a Feast being instituted and kept, was
an unmistakable expression of the faith of Christendom in that truth. St.
Bernard and the Angelical Doctor, St. Thomas, both teach that the Church cannot
celebrate the Feast of what is not holy; the Conception of Mary, therefore, was
holy and immaculate, since the Church has, for ages past, honoured it with a
special Feast. The Nativity of the same holy Virgin is kept as a solemnity in
the Church, because Mary was born full of grace; therefore, had the first
moment of Mary's existence been one of sin, as is that of all the other
children of Adam, it never could have been made the subject of the reverence of
the Church. Now, there are few Feasts so generally and so firmly established in
the Church as this which we are keeping to-day.
The Greek
Church, which, more easily than the Latin, could learn what were the pious
traditions of the East, kept this feast even in the sixth century, as is
evident from the ceremonial or, as it was called, the Type, of St. Sabas. In
the West, we find it established in the Gothic Church of Spain as far back as
the eighth century. A celebrated calendar which was engraved on marble, in the
ninth century, for the use of the Church of Naples, attests that it had already
been introduced there. Paul, the Deacon, Secretary to the Emperor Charlemagne,
and after wards Monk at Monte-Cassino, composed a celebrated Hymn on the
mystery of the Immaculate Conception; we will insert this piece later on, as it
is given in the manuscript copies of Monte-Cassino and Benevento. In 1066, the
Feast was first established in England, in consequence of the pious Abbot
Helsyn's being miraculously preserved from shipwreck ; and shortly after that,
was made general through the whole Island by the zeal of the great St. Anselm,
Monk of the Order of St. Benedict, and Archbishop of Canterbury. From England
it passed into Normandy, and took root in France. We find it sanctioned in
Germany, in a council held in 1049, at which St. Leo IX, was present; in
Navarre, 1090, at the Abbey of Irach; in Belgium, at Liege, in 1142. Thus did
the Churches of the West testify their faith in this mystery, by accepting its
Feast, which is the expression of faith.
Lastly, it was
adopted by Rome herself, and her doing so rendered the united testimony of her
children, — the other Churches, — more imposing than ever. It was Pope Sixtus
IV. who, in the year 1476, published the decree of the feast of Our Lady's Conception
for the City of St. Peter., In the next century, 1568, St. Pius V. published
the universal edition of the Roman Breviary, and in its Calendar was inserted
this feast as one of those Christian solemnities, which the faithful are every
year bound to observe. It was not from Rome that the devotion of the Catholic
world to this mystery received its first impulse; she sanctioned it by her
liturgical authority, just as she confirmed it by her doctrinal authority, in
these our own days.
The three great
Catholic Nations of Europe, — Germany, France, and Spain, — vied with each
other in their devotion to this mystery of Mary's Immaculate Conception.
France, by her King Louis XIV., obtained from Clement IX., that this feast
should be kept with an Octave throughout the kingdom; which favour was
afterwards extended to the universal Church by Innocent XII. For centuries
previous to this, the Theological Faculty of Paris had always exacted from its
Professors the oath that they would defend this privilege of Mary; a pious
practice which continued as long as the University itself.
As regards
Germany, the Emperor Ferdinand III., in 1647, ordered a splendid monument to be
erected in the great square of Vienna. It is covered with emblems and figures
symbolical of Mary's victory over sin, and on the top is the statue of the Immaculate
Queen, with this solemn and truly Catholic inscription:
TO GOD, DEFINITE IN GOODNESS AND POWER,
KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH,
BY WHOM KINGS REIGN;
TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN,
BY WHOM PRINCES COMMAND,
WHOM AUSTRIA, DEVOUTLY LOVING, HOLDS AS HER
QUEEN AND PATRON;
FERDINAND III., EMPEROR,
CONFIDES, GIVES, CONSECRATES HIMSELF,
CHILDREN, PEOPLE, ARMIES, PROVINCES,
AND ALL THAT IS HIS,
AND ERECTS IN ACCOMPLISHMENT OF A VOW
THIS STATUE,
AS A PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
But the zeal of
Spain for the privilege of the holy Mother of God surpassed that of all other
nations. In the year 1398, John I. King of Arragon, issued a Chart, in which he
solemnly places his person and kingdom under the protection of Mary Immaculate
Later on, Kings Philip III. and Philip IV. sent ambassadors to Rome,
soliciting, in their names, the solemn definition, which heaven reserved, in
its mercy, for our days. King Charles III. in the last century, obtained
permission from Clement XIII., that the Immaculate Conception should be the
patronal feast of Spain. The people of Spain, so justly called the Catholic
Kingdom, put over the door, or on the front of their houses, a tablet with the
words of Mary's privilege written on it; and when they meet, they greet each
other with an expression in honour of the same dear mystery. It was a
Spanish Nun, Mary of Jesus, Abbess of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception
of Agreda, who wrote God's Mystic City, which inspired Murillo with his
Immaculate Conception, the master-piece of the Spanish School.
But, whilst
thus mentioning the different nations which have been foremost in their zeal
for this article of our holy faith, the Immaculate Conception,— it were unjust
to pass over the immense share which the Seraphic Order, the Order of St.
Francis of Assisi, has had in the earthly triumph of our Blessed Mother, the
Queen of heaven and earth. As often as this feast comes round, is it not just
that we should think with reverence and gratitude on him, who was the first
theologian that showed how closely connected with the divine mystery of the
Incarnation is this dogma of the Immaculate Conception?
First, then, all honour
to the name of the pious and learned John Duns Scotus! And when at length the
great day of the Definition of the Immaculate Conception came, how justly
merited was that grand audience, which the Vicar of Christ granted to the
Franciscan Order, and with which closed the pageant of the glorious solemnity! Pius
the Ninth received from the hands of the children of St. Francis a tribute of
homage and thankfulness, which the Scotist School, after having fought four
hundred years in defense of Mary's Immaculate Conception, now presented to the
Pontiff.
In the presence
of the fifty-four Cardinals, forty- two Archbishops, and ninety-two Bishops;
before an immense concourse of people that filled Saint Peter's, and had united
in prayer, begging the assistance of the Spirit of Truth; the Vicar of Christ
had just pronounced the decision which so many ages had hoped to hear. The
Pontiff had offered the Holy Sacrifice on the Confession of Saint Peter. He had
crowned the Statue of the Immaculate Queen with a splendid diadem. Carried on
his lofty throne, and wearing his triple crown, he had reached the portico of
the basilica; there he is met by the two representatives of St. Francis: they
prostrate before the throne: the triumphal procession halts: and first, there
advances the General of the Friars Minor Observantines; he presents to the Holy
Father a branch of silver Lilies: he was followed by the General of the
Conventual Friars, holding in his hand a branch of silver Roses. The Pope
graciously accepted both. The Lilies and the Roses were symbolical of Mary's
purity and love; the whiteness of the silver was the emblem of the lovely
brightness of that orb, on which is reflected the light of the Sun; for, as the
Canticle says of Mary,
"She is beautiful as the Moon." The Pontiff was
overcome with emotion at these gifts of the family of the Seraphic Patriarch,
to which we might justly apply what was said of the Banner of the Maid of
Orleans:” It had stood the brunt of the battle; “it deserved to share in the
glory of the victory." And thus ended the glories of that grand morning of
the Eighth of December, Eighteen-hundred and Fifty-four.
It is thus, O
thou the humblest of creatures, that thy Immaculate Conception has been
glorified on earth! And how could it be else than a great joy to men, that thou
art honoured by them, thou the aurora of the Sun of Justice! Dost thou not
bring them the tidings of their salvation? Art not thou, O Mary, that bright
ray of hope, which suddenly bursts forth in the deep abyss of the world's
misery What should we have been without Jesus? And thou art his dearest Mother,
the holiest of God's creatures, the purest of virgins, and our own most loving Mother!
How thy gentle
light gladdens our wearied eyes, sweet Mother! Generation had followed
generation on this earth of ours. Men looked up to heaven through their tears,
hoping to see appear on the horizon the Star, which they had been told should
disperse the gloomy horrors of the world's darkness; but death came, and they
sank into the tomb, without seeing even the dawn of the Light, for which alone
they cared to live. It was for us that God had reserved the blessing of seeing
thy lovely rising, O thou fair Morning Star! which sheddest thy blessed rays on
the sea, and bringest calm after the long stormy night! Oh! prepare our eyes
that they may behold the divine Sun which will soon follow in thy path, and
give to the world his reign of light and day. Prepare our hearts, for it is to
our hearts that this Jesus of thine wishes to show himself. To see him, our
hearts must be pure; purify them, thou O Immaculate Mother! The divine wisdom
has willed that of the feasts which the Church dedicates to thee, this of thy
Immaculate Conception should be celebrated during Advent; that thus the
children of the Church, reflecting on the jealous care wherewith God preserved
thee from every stain of sin, because thou wast to be the Mother of his divine
Son, — might prepare to receive this same Jesus by the most perfect renouncing
of every sin and every attachment to sin. This great change must be made; and
thy prayers, O Mary! will help us to make it. Pray, we ask it of thee by the
grace God gave thee in thy Immaculate Conception, that our covetousness may be
destroyed, our concupiscence extinguished, and our pride turned into humility.
Despise not our prayers, dear Mother of that Jesus who chose thee for his
dwelling-place, that he might afterwards find one in each of us.
O Mary! Ark of the
Covenant, built of an incorruptible wood, and covered over with the purest gold!
help us to correspond with those wonderful designs of our God, who, after
having found his glory in thy incomparable purity, wills now to seek his glory
in our unworthiness, by making us, from being slaves of the devil, his temples
and his abode, where he may find his delight. Help us to this, O thou that by
the mercy of thy Son hast never known sin! and receive this day our devoutest
praise. Thou art the Ark of Salvation; the one creature unwrecked in the
universal deluge; the white Fleece filled with the dew of heaven, whilst the
earth around is parched ; the Flame which the many waters could not quench; the
Lily blooming amidst thorns; the Garden shut against the infernal serpent ; the
Fountain sealed, whose limpid water was never ruffled ; the House of the Lord,
whereon his eyes were ever fixed, and into which nothing defiled could ever
enter; the mystic City, of which such glorious things are said. We delight in
telling all thy glorious titles, O Mary! for thou art our Mother, and we love
thee, and the Mother's glory is the glory of her children. Cease not to bless
and protect all them that honour thy immense privilege, O thou that wast
conceived on this day! May this feast fit us for that mystery, for which thy
Conception, thy Birth, and thy Annunciation, are all preparations, — the Birth
of thy Jesus in Bethlehem: yea, dear Mother, we desire thy Jesus, — give him to
us and satisfy the longings of our love.
MASS
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed
Virgin Mary
Double of the First Class with an Octave
White Vestments
Missa ‘Gaudens
gaudebo’
INTROIT
Isaiah 61:10
I will rejoice with exceeding joy in the Lord, and my soul shall
exult in my God: for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; and
with the robe of justice he hath covered me, as a bride adorned with her
jewels. Ps. I will extol thee, O
Lord, for thou hast upheld me: and hast not made my enemies to rejoice over me.
Glory be to the Father.
I will rejoice, with exceeding joy in the Lord…
Gaudens gaudebo in Domino, et exsultabit anima mea in Deo meo: quia
induit me vestimentis salutis ; et indumento justitiae circumdedit me, quasi
sponsam ornatam monilibus suis.
Ps. Exaltabo te, Domine,
quoniam suscepisti me: nec delectasti inimicos meos su per me.
Gloria Patri.
Gaudens gaudebo te, Domine…
COLLECT
O God, who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin didst prepare
a worthy dwelling-place for thy divine
Son; grant, we beseech thee, that, as by the foreseen merits of the death of
this thy Son, thou didst preserve her from every stain of sin, we also may,
through her intercession, be cleansed from our sins and united with thee. Through
the same, Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with thee, in
the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
SECOND COLLECT PRAYER OF THE SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT
Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the ways of Thine
only-begotten Son; that through His coming we may attain to serve Thee with
purified minds. Who with Thee liveth and reigneth.
EPISTLE
Lesson from the Book
of Wisdom.
Proverbs 8: 23-35
The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His ways, before He made
anything, from the beginning. I was set up from eternity, and of old, before
the earth was made. The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived
neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out; the mountains with their
huge bulk had not yet been established: before the hills I was brought forth He
had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, not the poles of the world. When He
prepared the Heavens, I was there when with a certain law and compass He
enclosed the depths; when He established the sky above, and poised the
fountains of waters; when He compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law
to the waters that they should not pass their limits; when He balanced the
foundations of the earth; I was with Him, forming all things, and was delighted
every day, playing before Him at all times, playing in the world: and my
delight is to be with the children of men. Now, therefore, ye children, hear
me: blessed are they that keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and
refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at
my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors. He that shall find me, shall
find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.
Dominus possédit me in inítio viárum, suárum, ántequam quidquam
fáceret a princípio. Ab ætérno ordináta sum, et ex antíquis, ántequam terra
fíeret. Nondum erant abyssi, et ego jam concépta eram: necdum fontes aquárum
erúperant: necdum montes gravi mole constíterant: ante colles ego parturiébar.
Adhuc terram non fécerat, et flúmina et cárdines orbis terræ. Quando præparábat
cœlos, áaderam: quando certa lege, et gyro vallábat abyssos: quando æthera
firmábat sursum, et librábat fontes aquárum: quando circúmdabat mari términum
suum, et legem ponébat aquis ne transírent fines suos: quando appendébat
fundaménta terræ. Cumeo eramcuncta compónens: et dilectábar per síngulos dies,
ludens coram eo omni témpore, ludens in orbe terrárum: et delíciæ meæ esse cum
fíliis hóminum. Nunc ergo, fílii, audíte me: Beáti qui custódiunt vias meas.
Audíte discipliniam, et estóte sapiéntes, et nolite abjícere eam. Beátus homo
qui audit me, et qui vígilat ad fores meas quotídie, et obsérvat ad postes
óstii mei. Qui me invéniet vitam, et háuriet salútem a Dómino.
Commentary
By: Dom Prosper Guéranger
The Apostle teaches us that Jesus, our Emmanuel, is the first born
of every creature. These mysterious words signify not only that he is, as God,
eternally begotten of the Father; but also that the Divine Word is, as Man,
anterior to all created beings. Yet, how is this? the world had been created,
and the human race had dwelt on this earth full four thousand years, before the
Son of God took to himself the nature of man. We answer, that it is not in the
order of time, but in the eternal intention of God, that the Man-God preceded
every creature. The Eternal Father decreed first to give to his Eternal Son a
created nature, namely, the nature of man, and, in consequence of this decree,
to create all beings, whether spiritual or material, as a kingdom for this
Man-God. This explains to us how it is, that the divine Wisdom, the Son of God,
in the passage of the sacred Scripture which forms the Epistle of this Feast,
proclaims his having existed before all the creatures of the universe. As God,
he was begotten from all eternity in the bosom of the Father; as Man, he was,
in the mind of God, the type of all creatures, before those creatures were
made. But the Son of God could not be of our race, as the divine will decreed
he should be, unless he were born in time, and born of a Mother as other men;
and therefore She that was to be his Mother was eternally present to the
thought of God, as the means whereby the Word would assume the human nature.
The Son and the Mother are therefore united in the plan of the Incarnation:
Mary, therefore, existed, as did Jesus, in the divine decree, before creation
began. This is the reason of the Church's having, from the earliest ages of
Christianity, interpreted this sublime passage of the sacred volume of Jesus
and of Mary unitedly, and ordering it and analogous passages of the Scriptures
to be read in the assembly of the faithful on the solemnities or feasts of the
Mother of God. But if Mary be thus prominent-in the divine and eternal plan ; if,
in the sense in which these mysterious texts are understood by the Church, she
was, with Jesus, before every creature ; could God permit her to be subjected
to the original sin, which was to fall on all the children of Adam? She is, it
is true, to be a child of Adam like her divine Son himself, and to be born at
the time fixed; but God's grace shall turn away from her that torrent, which
sweeps all mankind along; it shall not come near to her, and she shall transmit
to her Son, who was also the Son of God, the human nature in its original perfection,
created, as the Apostle says, in holiness and justice.
GRADUAL
Blessed art thou, O Virgin Mary, by the Lord the most high God, above
all women upon the earth. Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of
Israel thou art the honour of our people.
Benedicta es tu, Virgo María, a Dómino Deo excélso, præ omnibus
muliéribus super terram. V. Tu Glória, Jerúsalem, tu lætítia Isræl, tu
honorificéntia pópuli nostri.
ALLELUIA
Thou art the glory of Jerusalem, thou art the joy of Israel, thou
art the honour of our people. Alleluia, alleluia. Thou art all fair, O Mary,
and the stain original is not in thee. Alleluia.
GOSPEL
The continuation from the holy Gospel according to St. Luke.
At that time the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of
Galilee, called Nazareth, to a Virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David: and the Virgin's name was Mary. And the Angel being come
in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou
among women.
In illo témpore: Missus est Angelus Gabriel a Deo in civitátem
Galilææ, cui nomen Názareth, ad Vírginem desponsátam viro, cui nomen erat
Joseph, de Dómo David et nomen Vírginis, María. Et ingréssus Angelus ad eam,
dixit: Ave, grátia plena Dóminus tecum benédicta tu in muliéribus
Commentary
By: Dom Prosper Guéranger
This is the salutation with which the Archangel greets Mary. It
shows us what was his admiration and his profound veneration for the Virgin of
Nazareth. The holy Gospel tells us that Mary was troubled at these words, and
thought within herself what such a salutation as this could imply. The Sacred
Scriptures record many Angelical salutations: but, as St. Ambrose,
St. Andrew of Crete, and, before them, Origen, had remarked, there is not one
which contains such praises as this does. The prudent Virgin was, therefore,
naturally surprised at the extraordinary words of the Angel, and, as the early
Fathers observe, they would remind her of that other interview between Eve and
the serpent. She therefore remained silent, and it was only after the Archangel
had spoken to her a second time, that she made him a reply.
And yet, Gabriel had
spoken not only with all the eloquence, but with all the profound wisdom of a
celestial Spirit initiated into the divine mysteries ; and, in his own
superhuman language, he announced that the moment had come when Eve was to be
transformed into Mary. There was present before him a woman destined for the
sublimest dignity, the woman that was to be the Mother of God; yet, up to this
solemn moment, Mary was but a daughter of the human race. Think, then, taking
Gabriel's words as your guide, what must have been the holiness of Mary in this
her first estate: is it not evident, that the prophecy, made in the earthly
paradise, had already been accomplished in Her?
The Archangel proclaims
her Full of Grace. What means this, but that the second Woman possesses in
herself that element of which sin had deprived the first? And observe, he does
not say merely that divine grace works in her, but that she is full of it.
"She is not merely in grace as others" are, as Saint Peter
Chrysologus told us on his feast,” but she is filled with it." Everything
in Her is resplendent with heavenly purity, and sin has never cast its shadow
on her beauty. To appreciate the full import of Gabriel's expression, we must consider
what is the force of the words in the language which the sacred historian used.
Grammarians tell us, that the single word which he employs is much more comprehensive
than our expression "full of grace." It implies not only the present
time, but the past as well, — an incorporation of grace from the very
commencement, — the full and complete affirmation of grace, — the total
permanence of grace. Our translation has unavoidably weakened the term.
The better to feel the
full force of our translation, let us compare this with an analogous text from
the Gospel of St. John. This Evangelist, speaking of the Humanity of the
Incarnate Word, expresses all by saying, that Jesus is full of grace and truth.
Now, would this fullness have been real, had sin ever been there, instead of
grace, even for a single instant ? Could we call him full of grace, who had
once stood in need of being cleansed? Undoubtedly, we must ever respectfully
bear in mind the distance between the Humanity of the Incarnate Word and the
person of Mary, from whose womb the Son of God assumed that Humanity; but the
sacred text obliges us to confess, that the fullness of grace was,
proportionately, in both Jesus and Mary.
Gabriel goes on still
enumerating the supernatural riches of Mary. He says to her:” the Lord is with thee." What means this? It means, that even before Mary had
conceived our Lord in her chaste womb, she already possessed him in her soul.
But, would the words be true, if that union with God had once not been, and had
only begun when her dis union with him by sin had been removed? The solemn
occasion, on which the Angel uses this language, forbids us to think that he
conveyed by it any other idea, than that she had always had the Lord with her.
We feel the allusion to a contrast between the First and the Second Eve; the
First lost the God who had once been with her; the Second had, like the First,
received our Lord into her from the first moment of her existence, and never
lost him, but continued from first to last and for ever to have him with her.
Let us listen once more
to the salutation, and we shall find from its last words that Gabriel is
announcing the fulfillment of the divine oracle, and is addressing
Mary as the woman foretold to be the instrument of the victory over Satan.
"Blessed art thou among women." For four thousand years, every woman
has been under the curse of God, and has brought forth her children in
suffering and sorrow: but here is the one among women, that has been ever
blessed of God, that has ever been the enemy of the serpent, and that shall
bring forth the fruit of her womb without travail.
The Immaculate
Conception of Mary is therefore declared in the Archangel's salutation; and we
can now understand, why the Church selected this portion of the Gospel to be
read to-day in the assembly of the faithful.
After the glorious
chant of the Symbol of our Faith, the Choir intones the Offertory: it is
composed of the words of the Angelical Salutation. Let us say to Mary, with Gabriel:
Verily, O Mary, thou art full of all grace.
OFFERTORY
Luke 1: 28
Hail Mary, full of grace: the Lord is with
thee: blessed art thou among women.
Ave María, gratia plena: Dóminus tecum, benedícta tu in muliéribus. Allelúia.
SECRET
Receive, O Lord, this host of salvation, which we offer unto thee
on this solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary; and
grant, that, as we confess her to have been pre served, by thy preventing
grace, from every stain of sin, we may, by her intercession, be freed from all
our sins. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT SECRET PRAYER
Be appeased, we beseech Thee, O Lord, by the prayers and offerings
of our humility: and where we have no merits to plead for us, do Thou help us
with Thine aid. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord.
PREFACE
It is truly meet and
just, right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all
places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God
and that we should praise and bless, and proclaim Thee, on the solemn feast of
the Immaculate Conception of Blessed Mary: ever Virgin: Who also conceived
Thine only-begotten Son by the over-shadowing of the Holy Ghost, and the glory
of her virginity still abiding, gave forth to the world the everlasting light,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Through whom the angels praise Thy Majesty, the
Dominations worship it, and the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the
Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to
celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid our
voices also to be admitted, while we say with lowly praise:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts. Heaven and earth are full of
Thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he that cometh in the Name of the
Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Vere dignum et justum est, æquum et salutáre, nos tibi semper, et ubique
grátias ágere: Dómine sancte, Pater omnípotens, ætérne Deus. Et te in solemnitáte
immáculatæ Conceptionis beátæ Mariæ semper Vírginis collaudáre, benedícere, et
prædicáre. Quæ et Unigénitum tuum Sancti Spíritus obumbratióne concépit, et
virginitátis glória permanénte, lumen ætérnum mundo effúdit, Jesum Christum
Dóminum nostrum. Per quem majestátem tuam laudant Angeli, adórant Dominatiónes,
tremunt Potestátes cœli cœlorúmque Virtútes, ac beáta Séraphim, sócia
exsultatióne concélebrant. Cum quibus et nostras voces ut admitti júbeas
deprecámur, súpplici confessióne dicéntes:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus
Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus
qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.
COMMUNION
Psalm 88: 36-38
Glorious things are told of thee, O Mary, for
He who is mighty hath done great things unto thee.
POSTCOMMUNION
May the Sacraments which we have received, O
Lord, our God, heal in us the wounds of that sin, from which Thou didst alone
preserve the Immaculate Conception of Blessed Mary. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord.
SECOND POSTCOMMUNION PRAYER - SECOND SUNDAY OF
ADVENT
Filled with the food of this spiritual
nourishment, we suppliantly entreat Thee, O Lord, that through our
participation in this Mystery Thou wouldst teach us to despise earthly things
and to love heavenly ones. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord.
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