Reflection for THURSDAY, Immaculate Conception of the BVM

By 

Fr. Aloysius Santiago sdb
Director, Social Action Movement, Don Bosco Bidar


Word of God 

Luke 1:26-38    

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” 

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” 

“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.  For no word from God will ever fail.” 

“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. 



Meditation on the Word of God 

We believe that everything happens for a reason.

And with faith, we also believe that everything happens in God’s plan

And with that, we also believe that each of us is created for a reason, and that reason is rooted in the mystery of God’s plan.

In the celebration of the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we could see that when God created Mary, He had a plan for her.

In creating Mary, God also chose her to have a significant reason in His plan of salvation.

God chose Mary to be the first of the redeemed, to be holy and pure, so that through her, the Son of God would come into this world to be the Redeemer and for the plan of salvation.

This feast also reminds us that we are created for a reason and that we too have a part to fulfill in God’s plan of salvation.

Mary responded to her call and fulfilled her mission in God’s plan of salvation.

May Mary pray for us that we too will know what God’s will is for us, that we respond to God’s call and to be faithful in carrying out our mission in God’s plan of salvation.


THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY:

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Macula is Latin for “stain.” This day the Church celebrates the conception of our Blessed Mother without the stain of sin.

First recognized in Church teaching (in the Eastern Churches) as early as the fifth century, the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was not formally promulgated by the Church until 8 December 1854 by Blessed Pope Pius IX. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception, one of the four Marian dogmas of the Church, holds that Mary was conceived in the womb of her mother, Saint Ann, and kept free for her entire life, from its very first moment, without the stain of sin.

GOD BLESS YOU

Good morning. Have a nice day. 

WISH YOU A HAPPY FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION