Today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
If you are curious for more information about the Feast, click here.
The main declaration of this Dogma of the Church:
In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."
What a great day. Mary, the splendor of the human race, the model of all Christians, the Mother of God, pure and perfect, with no stain of sin, who intercedes for us with her Divine Son.
O, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee!
Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thine intercession was left unaided.
Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto thee, O Virgin of virgins, my mother; to thee do I come, before thee I stand, sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate, despise not my petitions, but in thy mercy hear and answer me.
Amen.
For those who are not Catholics, and for those Catholics who do not have a clear or firm understanding of the Church's teaching on Mary, click here. This is a great site for explaining and defending the Catholic Church and her teachings.
To other news, we had a great snow the other day, and then, yesterday, a nice snow shower in the afternoon before it warmed up. It is about 5o degrees now. I will post some pics soon, that one of my Diocesan Brothers took. I do not think we will get another snow before Christmas, but keep praying for a white Christmas back home!!
Final exams are this week, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then Thursday, and the last one on Tuesday the 18th. I will head home to the great State on the 19th to begin my Christmas Break.
Keep praying during this Advent season and remember, it is not Christmas yet! We are in the Advent season, preparing for Christmas, which only BEGINS on Christmas day, no matter what the secular world says or does. So, keep your lights out and on, the tree and wreaths up, and the joyful Christmas music playing WELL into January and teach the world the true way to celebrate Christmas!
Until I post again, God bless you. Pray for us. We are praying for you.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hi, Charles! Happy Feast Day to you and your fellow seminarians! Sorry I haven't written before.
It was WONDERFUL to see you last month. I am very grateful that you went to Julie's wedding. Please, keep her in prayer...
It was so great to go to the St. Katharine Drexel Shrine, with you and my dear friends, and my sister. Isn't it great to have two great saints right there near where you are!!! Oh, by the way, our dear St. John Neumann was present in Rome when the Pope declared the Immaculate Conception to be a dogma of faith (in 1854).
While we were at Julie's we attended Mass the next day nearby, and a fellow seminarian (J. G., from Allentown) spoke at the Mass.
Afterwards,we told him that we had seen you the day before.
On our way back, we stayed overnight in your beloved home-town which is lovely. We ate a nice place downtown near the water. It is a charming town.
Thank you for the blog, and for staying in touch.
Post a Comment