The date of Mary's Nativity on September 8th caused her conception to be celebrated during Advent, the season when the Church awaits "the Emmanuel whom a virgin shall conceive."Devotion to the Mother of God holds an important place in the liturgy of Advent. One may say that the period comprising Advent, Christmas and Epiphany constitutes the real season or month of Mary.
The Church does not yet possess Jesus, but she already has His Mother, "the beginning of Christ" as Bossuet calls her. This period represents the first phase of the existence of the Saviour on earth. The divine Infant rests gently in Mary, a living tabernacle which the pious sculptors of the middle ages wished to honour when they made a statue of the Virgin as a tabernacle where the Eucharist would be preserved. During this season of Advent let us fix our eyes on the Virgin who is to give us Christ.
Ave, María, gratia plena: Dóminus tecum, benedícta tu in muliéribus, allelúja.
Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women. Alleluia.
(Luke 1:28. The Offertorium of Mass)
Gloriósa dicta sunt de te, María, quia fecit tibi magna qui potens est.
Glorious things are told of thee, O Mary, for He who is mighty hath done great things unto thee.
(Communion Antiphon of Mass)
Sacraménta quae súmpsimus, Dómine Deus noster, illíus in nobis culpae vúlnera réparent; a qua immaculátam beátae Maríae Conceptionem singuláriter praeservásti.
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.
(Postcommunion Collect)
Thank you for this; I very much look forward to your posts, although there is so much to keep up with on the Internet it is true I sometimes am very late visiting.
ReplyDeletePleased to have you as a reader - thank you for your comment.
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