Reflection/Homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary 8th December 2023
Reflection/Homily for the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary 8th December 2023 Genesis 3:9-15,20. Psalm 98:1,2-3ab,3cd-4. Ephesians 1:3-6,11-12. Luke 26b-38. The Solemnity celebrates Mary as the virgin who is "full of grace" (Luke 1:28), as the Archangel Gabriel said at the Annunciation. From the earliest times, the Catholic Church expressed and developed the belief that Mary was conceived without original sin, but it was only in 1854 that Pope Pius IX proclaimed it a dogma. We give thanks to God for having chosen the Blessed Virgin Mary as the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our mother, and having preserved her from sin. Mary is the sign of victory over the serpent. She is the woman mentioned in today's first reading, "I will make you and the woman hate each other; her offspring and yours will always be enemies. Her offspring will crush your head, and you will bite her offspring's heel" (Gen.3:15). Mary is the new Eve fr...